Caryota urens.

Having looked at the tallest in the Palm House, here now is surely the most fascinating. The Caryota urens is also known as the fishtail palm (due to the shape of its leaves), and I love this marine name. As well as its plentiful foliage, it has great clusters of flowers that truly resemble waterfalls - as though the whole tree is spilling forth with verdant life.


Caryota urens, "Fishtail Palm".
(Palm tree.)

Planting: Nowhere near England!
Flowering: Monoecious, monocarpic.
Aspect: Full sun.
Hardiness: Subtropical and tropical habitat.


Notes: The specimen at Kew had grown to a grand stature of twelve metres, with gardeners beginning to                         fear for the glass roof! In a moment of magical timing, however, it had recently burst into flower-                        sparing both the roof and the final days of the tree (Caryota urens is monocarpic).