Fishtail Palm : Caryota Urens

See also: Date Palm
The Caryota urens, also known as the Toddy palm, Wine palm, Jaggery palm, Kitul palm is a beautiful fishtail palm from Asia. It occurs in mountain slopes, rain-forests, moist flatlands and clearings in India, Shri Lanka and Myanmar. It grows to a mature height of 30-40 feet. This fishtail palm has fast growth rate.
The Caryota urens is a solitary fishtail palm tree with a stout, smooth, ringed, light-gray trunk and dark green, arching, fern-like, bipinnate leaves.
The C.urens is easy to care for. It grows well in full sun to partial shade. The caryot urens requires regular watering and well-drained soil. It is hardy to 26 F and can be grown in USDA zone 9 to 11.
This caryota palm is commonly cultivated palm in tropical and subtropical regions. It is widely grown in South Florida. This Florida palm makes a beautiful addition to any landscape. The C.urens makes also a great house and potted plant.
The palm sap is very high in sugars and processed to make a brown sugar called jaggery. It is also used to make an alcopholic beverage Toddy.
Return to Fishtail palm main page.