Areca Palm, Golden Palm, Golden Cane Palm

Dypsis lutescens (H.Wendl.) Beentje & J. Dransf. Palms of Madagascar: 212. 1995.

DIP-sis loo-TESS-ens

Arecaceae

Explanation of name: Origin of Dypsis is unclear. Lutescens means yellowish (STE).

Synonymy: Better known as Chrysalidocarpus lutescens H. Wendl. in Bot. Zeit. xxxvi. 171. 1878. Interpreted as belonging to Dypsis in 1995.

Natural range: Madagascar

Natural habitat: Along streams and clearings in wet forests (JON, RI2)

Recognition: Thickly clumping, pinnate-leaved palm, often with golden stems, petioles, and leaves. The stems sometimes look like bamboo if the suckers are removed. The leaflets are arranged in a V. ELL lists cultivars ‘Compacta’, ‘Nana’, ‘Rotundum’, ‘Sleeping Beauty’, ‘Variegata’, and ‘Viroj’.

Landscape uses: Over-used for large clumps, borders, and screens, often in vast numbers with minimal care. Often K-deficient and unhealthy as encountered locally. Easily propagated by rooted suckers. Seeds germinate in 8 weeks (ELL). Used indoors.