The Areca Palm is one of the most popular plants in tropical and subtropical regions due its beauty. The Butterfly Palm is a clustering tree. It grows in clumps of several stems.  One clump is considered a single plant.

 This tree  forms thick and dense clupms of many stems 15-20 feet high and 5-10 feet wide.  The tree tends to expand its size by new growth of suckers at the base. Eventually it becomes a very large plant.

 Younger plants have reedy stems and mature palms form bamboo-like ringed trunks which are often called canes. This elegant tree is often called the Golgen Cane palm because of the golden coloured trunks.

The stems are topped with gently arching featherlike fronds which can reach 4-8 feet in length. Each leaf has 80-120 leaflets. The leaves grow close to the soil. They are yellow-green in color. The fronds curve upwards and create a very beautiful butterfly look.

The Areca palm produces several stalks of small yellowish white flowers below the foliage. They are monoecious, male and female flowers are on the same inflorescence. The flowers bloom for several months.

The Chrysalidocarpus Lutescens forms small, oval, yellow-orange fruits all year around.

Return to Areca Palm  main page.