Chinese Fan Palm

Livistona chinensis (Jacq.) Mart.

liv-ah-STONE-ah chie-NEN-sis

Arecaceae

Explanation of name: Generic name from Patrick Murray, Baron of Livingstone (HUX), whose home is now the Edinburgh Botanic Garden. Chinensis means “from China.”

Natural range: Japan, Ryuku Islands, Taiwan (JON). Open woodlands (RI2)

Recognition features (FAI, JON, MEE, PAL, PBCC): Single-trunked, slow-growing, costapalmate-leaved palm with drooping leaf tips. The petiole is toothed. The fruits are blue. Additional species of Livistona appear in South Florida landscapes. Livistona decora (Bull.) Dowe (Livistona decipiens (R. Br.) Mart.), Ribbon Palm, from Australia, has deeply dissected, weeping palmate leaves. It retains the best appearance if protected from strong winds.  Livistona rotundifolia (Lam.) Mart., Roundleaf Fan Palm, Footstool Palm (see below), has young leaves characteristically almost perfectly round, flat or with the tips drooping a little, and dissected 1/3 or less. With age and exposure, the leaves become more deeply incised, tattered, and bent and folded. This species can be challenging to distinguish at a glance from other costapalmate-leaved palms, especially because it changes with age and environment. It differs from the other Livistona species mentioned here by not tending toward drooping leaf tips. Livistona rotundifolia has notably long (to 8’) slender petioles, and distinctively reddish-brown leaf scars.  Species of Coccothrinax can resemble Livistona, including the shared attribute of fibrous leaf bases abundantly covering the stem, but differ by having untoothed petioles and by having palmate (vs. costapalmate) leaves. Having toothed petioles, species of Washingtonia robusta can resemble L. rotundifolia, but the Washintonia grows much taller (> 70’ vs. 35’), has threads mixed with the leaflets, a skirt of dead fronds (if these not pruned away), shorter (<4’ vs. > 6’) and stouter petioles with orange teeth and split at the base, and much smaller fruits (3/8” vs. ¾”).

Landscape uses (L. chinensis): Ultimately a tall specimen palm, very shade tolerant (and shade preferring) when young, becoming sun loving with increasing size. Chinese Fan Palms are slow-growing and are often cultivated in containers or in confined spaces, despite their ultimate potential for large size. These palms have a neat, uniform appearance making them useful in formal settings. Germination in 2-3 months (ELL).  The tree is a FEPPC Category II invasive species.

Additional notes: Livistona chinensis var. subglobosa Becc. is a small cultivar with a stout trunk.