This native of Northern Australia was introduced to botanists, as recent as 1983, by an aborigine bushman Wodyeti. The foxtail palm is the only plant in this genus, named in honour of his vast knowledge on the palm's natural habitat.
The neat, solitary trunk and bushy crown makes for a forlorn sight from far. However, on closer inspection,
I'm amazed to see the strong, ringed trunk which is gray in colour. The older palms can be quite tall with plumes of pretty bowing fronds, I can only equate with a bottle brush or commonly, the tail of a fox.
Needless to say, it's a grand and stunning plant for any landscaping feature!
Several young shoots of inflorescence can be seen protruding from the base of the handsome creamy green crown shaft. Most interesting for me to note, is the couple of long, string-like, green fibers dangling from the each of the lower leaf branches.
foxy arch
This very unusual leaftlet arrangement, branch from both sides of the frond shaft giving a stunning 'fish tail' effect.
Lastly, I leave my 'bonus' image of this specimen to your imagination...
Do you see what I see?
(for those not familiar with traditional Malay puppet folklore, the 'wayang kulit', this outline resembles one of those characters)
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