Statue of Unity – Ek Bharat, Shreshtha Bharat Rain Forest Ektanagar

Chrysalidocarpus lutescens

Syn. Dypsis lutescens

IUCN Red List Near Threatened (NT)

Local name

  • Butterfly Palm (English)

Tree type

Evergreen Deciduous
Family: Arecaceae
8m

Indicated uses

Medicinal Edible Ornamental Avenue Other

Flowering & fruiting

Flowering Fruiting

Key characters

Chrysalidocarpus lutescens bark

Bark

Stems smooth, cane-like, up to about 7.5 cm in diameter, greyish-green to yellowish, ringed with prominent leaf scars like bamboo.

Chrysalidocarpus lutescens leaves

Leaves

Leaves are pinnately compound, arching, 1.6–2.5 m long, with 40–60 pairs of narrow leaflets held in a V shape; leaf stalk and midrib distinctly yellow.

Chrysalidocarpus lutescens flower

Flower

Inflorescences branched, arising below the leaves; flowers small, yellow, unisexual, with male and female flowers on the same inflorescence.

Chrysalidocarpus lutescens fruit / seeds

Fruit / Seeds

Fruits ovoid to oblong, about 1.7–2.5 cm long, ripening from yellow to purplish-black; one seed per fruit.

Chrysalidocarpus lutescens

Did you know?

The epithet lutescens means “yellowish”, after its yellow stems and leaf stalks. It is one of the most commercially important indoor palms in the world. In Madagascar its leaf fibre was once used to make fishing nets.

Distribution

World map showing distribution

Madagascar, Andaman Is., Assam, Bangladesh, Comoros, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Haiti, Jamaica, Leeward Is., Puerto Rico, Réunion, Trinidad-Tobago, Venezuelan Antilles.