Eden

Penang Botanic Gardens Plant Collection

Caryota maxima Blume ex Mart. (ARECACEAE)

Posted at — Nov 13, 2019
Giant Mountain Fishtail Palm, Rabok Gunong

Description

Large solitary palm to 30 m, c. 30 cm diameter. Crown shaft elongated. Bipinnately compound leaves 3-6 m long, leaflets c. 30 cm long, narrowly triangular with fishtail tips. Inflorescence many-branched, pendulous, c. 1.8 m long, bearing multiple extended times in and below the crown shaft. Trunk dying after flowering and fruits maturing. Both male and female flowers produced on the same individual but at different times. Fruits ellipsoid, pink to red.


Ecology

Occurs naturally in low mountainous rain forest.

Distribution

S China, Myanmar, Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, Laos, Vietnam, Sumatra and Java.

Uses

It is occasionally planted as ornamental.