The Solitary Fishtail Palm #2

Botanical Name : Caryota urens

From across the road, sighted an odd looking pair of the Fishtail palms in the foregrounds of the Medan Mara at Jalan Raja Laut. One looking fine while the other, on the right, looked rather unwell, its top unceremoniously and prematurely topped.  By past observations, these are among the most luxuriant of palms with their well aligned, multi leaflet fronds.

But all's not doom and gloom for this pair.  Looking up, it amazes me with its exciting "star burst" canopy.  What a mesmerizing feature when it's only a handful of tidy fronds and hey presto! such a beautiful star against the clear sky...

How not to keep on looking at the bright side of things? Nature's art is everywhere, just need to "see" it and appreciate its mystical wonder :)

As for the unfortunate one, believe it's been under attack of some kind, diseased or man made, looking at the long crack line on its trunk, am unsure :(

The Solitary Fishtail Palm

Botanical Name : Caryota urens

Unlike the Caryota mitis, a clumping species, the Solitary Fishtail Palm tree is a fast growing, beautiful, solitary palm.  It originated from India and Sri Lanka and is known by other names, such as Toddy Palm, Wine Palm, and Jaggery Palm.

The solid stem is strong, smooth and almost grayish white apparently dusted in some white fur-like substance. Whilst the graceful fronds are bi-pinnate, divided, with the leaflets ending in triangular jagged edges hence its nickname, looks almost fern-like.

This palm is monocarpic, i.e. it flowers from top down and once, the last fruits from the lowest infloresence mature, the plant dies.

The cultured plants pictured here are probably small to medium compared with some wildly majestic ones seen some mid journey (approx. 3000ft above sea level), through mountain forest on the way up to Genting Highlands, Pahang.

Unfortunately, from afar, they were all (about 8-9 but growing at different levels) on the verge of dying so it's hard to assume if they've reached the end of their lifespan simultaneously or attacked by some disease?