Bark
Trunk solitary, erect, stout and smooth, greyish, with prominent annular leaf scars. Each stem dies after fruiting.
Caryota urens
Syn. Caryota aequatorialis
IUCN Red List
Least Concern
(LC)
Local name
- Fishtail Palm (English)
- Mari (Hindi)
- Shivjata (Gujarati)
Tree type
Evergreen
Deciduous
Family: Arecaceae
20m
Indicated uses
Medicinal
Edible
Ornamental
Avenue
Other
Flowering & fruiting
Flowering
Fruiting
Key characters
Leaves
Bipinnate, 4–6 m long, with broad, wedge-shaped, irregularly cut leaflets and distinctive flat, truncated, fish-tail-like tips.
Flower
Large, pendulous, highly branched inflorescences up to 4 m long; monoecious, bearing flowers in triads, with one central female flower flanked by two male flowers.
Fruit / Seeds
Fruits globose, about 2 cm across, reddish-purple when ripe, containing plano-convex to subreniform seeds and irritating calcium oxalate crystals.
Did you know?
In Gujarati, it is locally known as “Shivjata”, a name inspired by the plant’s hair-like structures resembling the matted hair (jata) of Lord Shiva.
Distribution
S. India, Sri Lanka, S. Bhutan to S. China, W. & Central Jawa, Andaman Is., Cuba