Eden

Penang Botanic Gardens Plant Collection

Ptychosperma macarthurii (H.Wendl. ex H.J.Veitch) H.Wendl. ex Hood.f. (ARECACEAE)

Posted at — Nov 13, 2019
Macarthur Palm

Description

Close-clustering feather-leafed palm to 7.6 m tall, 5 cm diameter, stem greyish. Crown hemispherical, crown shaft light green to olive green. Leaves 90-180 cm long on 30 cm long petiole, erect and arch slightly; leaflets up to 45 cm long, arranged irregularly in one plane with toothed ends. Inflorescence grown beneath crown shaft, much branched, erect, c. 60 cm long bearing cream coloured flowers. Fruits ovoid, c. 13 mm across, green ripening yellow to red.


Ecology

Occurs naturally in rainforest and low swamps.

Distribution

Southern Papua New Guinea and northern Australia.

Uses

One of the very widely cultivated ornamental in SE Asia.