Arenga caudata

Arenga (ah-REN-gah)
caudata (kaw-DAHT-ah)

Thailand. Photo by Dr. John Dransfield, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew/Palmweb.

Scientific Classification

Genus:	Arenga (ah-REN-gah)
Species:	caudata (kaw-DAHT-ah)

Synonyms

Borassus caudatus, Didymosperma caudatum, Wallichia caudata.

Native Continent

Asia

Morphology

Habit:	Clustering
Leaf type:	Pinnate

Culture

Survivability index

Common names

Miniature Sugar Palm.

Habitat and distribution

Arenga caudata

Khao Chong, southern Thailand. Photo by Dr. S. Barrow, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew/Palmweb.

is found in Cambodia, Hainan, Laos, Malaya, South Myanmar (Burma), Thailand, and Vietnam. Lowland rain forests or deciduous forests, sometimes on limestone outcrops; below 700 m. Guangxi, Hainan [Cambodia].

Description

An understory palm. Growth habit, clustering, to 1.5 m tall, 1-2 cm in diam. Leaf petioles to 0.4 m; rachis to 0.5 m; pinnae to 10 per side of rachis, linear to rhomboid (rarely blade undivided), briefly lobed along margins and with elongate apices, without ears at bases, regularly arranged and spreading in same plane except for basal few pinnae; middle pinnae to 20 cm, to 7 cm wide at mid-point. Inflorescences to 50 cm; male rachillae 1(-3), 16-20 cm; male flowers 5-8 mm; sepals about 1 mm; petals 5-8 mm; stamens 13-15; female rachilla 1, to 30 cm; female flowers about 5 mm; sepals about 1 mm; petals 2-3 mm. Fruits red, ellipsoid to oblong, about 1.5 × 0.8 cm.