Pronunciation: care-ee-OW-tuh kear-ee-wong-GEN-siss
Common Name: none
Caryota kiriwongensis is a very rare Caryota species for California, and morphologically VERY similar to Caryota obtusa (flowers are quite different, but no flowering palms in California… yet). In nature (Thailand) this palm grows up to nearly 100' but suspect, like Caryota obtusa, this palm will flower long before it gets anywhere near its natural height limits.
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Appearance and Biology
- Habit: solitary with a crown of maybe 4-8 bipinnate fishtail leaves
- Height: 30' estimate
- Trunk: single; 18" estimate; ringed with upper trunk having some brown fiber on it
- Crownshaft: none
- Spread: 20'-25' estimate
- Leaf Description: bipinnate; spreading and most leaves held at a 45 degree angle to the horizontal; spreading/flat; assymetrical fishtail leaflets; non-drooping; tend to overlap with leaflets on adjacent branchlets; 15'-20' feet long estimate; light green
- Petiole/Leaf bases: 3'; unarmed, dull green
- Reproduction: monoecious; monocarpic
- Inflorescence: 2' long; pendulous (no flowering plants in California)
- Fruit: contain toxic oxalates
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Horticultural Characteristics
- Minimum Temp: 30F estimate
- Drought Tolerance: low
- Dry Heat Tolerance: unknown
- Wind Tolerance: poor
- Salt Tolerance: unknown
- Growth Rate: moderate
- Soil Preference: moist and well draining
- Light Requirement: partial to full sun
- Human Hazards: toxic fruits (oxalates)
- Disease or Horticultural Problems: yellowy in cultivation (nutritionally needy versus pH soil problems?)
- Transplants?: unknown
- Indoor?: unknown
- Availability: very rare but seed shows up periodicallly
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