Dypsis lutescens
Encyclopedia
Dypsis lutescens, also known as Golden Cane Palm, Areca Palm, or Butterfly Palm, is a plant
in the Arecaceae
family. It is native to Madagascar
.
are arched, 2-3 m long, and pinnate, with 40-60 pairs of leaflets. It produces offsets, and these can be cut off when mature enough as a propagation method.
It is grown as an ornamental plant
in gardens in tropical and subtropical regions, and elsewhere indoors.
Areca palm trees are commonly referred to as the Butterfly palm, and has many other common names. But, the butterfly palm is the most descriptive as to the areca's aesthetics. The leaves curve upwards in multiple stems to create a butterfly look. They are sometimes used as privacy wall or fence. The areca palm is sometimes confused with many other plants in the genus, because of the palm family name,"areca." The areca palm, above all other indoor palm trees, is most commonly found in households.
In its introduced range, this plant acts as a supplier of fruit
to some bird
species who feed on it opportunistically, such as the Pitangus sulphuratus, Coereba flaveola and Thraupis sayaca species in Brazil.
Plant
Plants are living organisms belonging to the kingdom Plantae. Precise definitions of the kingdom vary, but as the term is used here, plants include familiar organisms such as trees, flowers, herbs, bushes, grasses, vines, ferns, mosses, and green algae. The group is also called green plants or...
in the Arecaceae
Arecaceae
Arecaceae or Palmae , are a family of flowering plants, the only family in the monocot order Arecales. There are roughly 202 currently known genera with around 2600 species, most of which are restricted to tropical, subtropical, and warm temperate climates...
family. It is native to Madagascar
Madagascar
The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...
.
Description
D. lutescens is a small to medium-sized palm, growing to a height of 6 to 12 meters. It has multiple stems emerging from the base. The leavesLeaf
A leaf is an organ of a vascular plant, as defined in botanical terms, and in particular in plant morphology. Foliage is a mass noun that refers to leaves as a feature of plants....
are arched, 2-3 m long, and pinnate, with 40-60 pairs of leaflets. It produces offsets, and these can be cut off when mature enough as a propagation method.
It is grown as an ornamental plant
Ornamental plant
Ornamental plants are plants that are grown for decorative purposes in gardens and landscape design projects, as house plants, for cut flowers and specimen display...
in gardens in tropical and subtropical regions, and elsewhere indoors.
Areca palm trees are commonly referred to as the Butterfly palm, and has many other common names. But, the butterfly palm is the most descriptive as to the areca's aesthetics. The leaves curve upwards in multiple stems to create a butterfly look. They are sometimes used as privacy wall or fence. The areca palm is sometimes confused with many other plants in the genus, because of the palm family name,"areca." The areca palm, above all other indoor palm trees, is most commonly found in households.
In its introduced range, this plant acts as a supplier of fruit
Fruit
In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...
to some bird
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
species who feed on it opportunistically, such as the Pitangus sulphuratus, Coereba flaveola and Thraupis sayaca species in Brazil.
Air quality
According to NASA and Dr. B. C. Wolverton, the Areca Palm filters xylene and toluene from the air. Wolverton also specifies that, at 1.8 meters in height, the plant will transpire 1 liter of water per 24 hours, thereby making it an effective humidifier.External links
- WCSP, World Checklist of Selected Plant Families: Dypsis lutescens
- PACSOA: Dypsis lutescens
- Part of this article was compiled from the Portuguese Wikipedia article.
- "How to Grow Your Own Fresh Air" using Areca Palm (Chrysalidocarpus lutescens) (TED talk)