Eden

Penang Botanic Gardens Plant Collection

Wodyetia bifurcata A.K.Irvine (ARECACEAE)

Posted at — Nov 13, 2019
Foxtail Palm

Description

Solitary feather-leafed palm to 14 m tall, 20-25 cm diameter; trunk bottle-shaped. Crown with 10 leaves. Crownshaft smooth, green, c. 90 cm long. Petiole short, rachis 2.4-3 m long with many leaflets growing from different angles around the rachis giving a plume-like arrangement. Inflorescence much-branched growing just beneath the crownshaft with yellowish green flowers of both sexes. Fruits ovoid, 5 cm long, ripening orang red.


Ecology

It grows in monsoonal and rocky scrubland on sandy, granitic soils at elevation to 370 m.

Distribution

The species is endemic in Cape York Peninsula of Queensland, Australia. This is a monotypic palm; the genus represented by only this species.

Uses

A very popular ornamental.