Bottle palm
| Hyophorbe lagenicaulis | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| (unranked): | Angiosperms |
| (unranked): | Monocots |
| (unranked): | Commelinids |
| Order: | Arecales |
| Family: | Arecaceae |
| Genus: | Hyophorbe |
| Species: | H. lagenicaulis |
| Binomial name | |
|
Hyophorbe lagenicaulis (L.H.Bailey) H.E.Moore |
|
Hyophorbe lagenicaulis, the bottle palm or palmiste gargoulette, is a species of flowering plant in the Arecaceae family. It is native to Round Island, Mauritius.
Bottle palm has a large swollen (sometimes bizarrely so) trunk. It is a myth that the trunk is a means by which the palm stores water. Bottle palm has only four to six leaves open at any time. The flowers of the palm arise from under the crownshaft.
The bottle palm is naturally endemic to Round Island, off the coast of Mauritius. While habitat destruction may destroy the last remaining palms in the wild, the survival of the species is assured due to its ubiquitous planting throughout the tropics and subtropics as a specimen plant.
Bottle palms are very cold sensitive and are killed at 0 °C (32 °F) or colder for any appreciable length of time. They may survive a brief, light frost, but will have foliage damage. Only southern Florida and Hawaii provide safe locations in the USA to grow Bottle Palm, although mature flowering specimens may be occasionally be seen in favored microclimates around Cape Canaveral and Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater in coastal central Florida. It makes a fine container-grown palm in other locations as long as it is protected from the cold and not overwatered.
Juvenile stage.
Close-up of trunk.
...
Wikipedia