The Clustering Fishtail Palm

Botanical Name: Caryota mitis

For tropical beauty and exotic foliage, this South East Asian native definitely delivers. It is a very hardy
palm of the clustering variety.  Of manageable height, it is usually planted outdoors for landscaping accent
or for screening.

Of special note, are the luxuriant and unusual fishtail leaflets which are very distinctive in deep green.

                                
                                

                                                                        mop heads

It is important to be aware of the poisonous nature of these 'delicious-looking' berries as they cause pain
and swelling in the mouth, if eaten and cause redness and swelling to the skin or eyes if you touch these areas after handling the berries.

a natural garment of
protective brown fibres

It is understood that this plant flowers from the top down, which explains the bunches of darker berries

at the top.

Sadly, this palm only flowers once in its life time and dies off after the seeding process has completed
which brings to mind, the similarity to the sacrificial banana palm.