There has been some confusion between Livistona speciosa Kurz and Livistona jenkinsiana Griff., with some treatments, such as the Flora of China[] treating Livistona speciosa as a synonym of Livistona jenkinsiana. We are using the treatment of Dowe, J.L. (2009)[] and Liu, H.S. (2011)[], where Livistona speciosa is a distinct species native from Bangladesh to southern China and south to Malaysia and Vietnam - this species was wrongly described as Livistona jenkinsiana in the Flora of China[]. Livistona jenkinsiana is not native to China, but is found in Bangladesh, northeast India, Myanmar and Thailand.

Common Name:

General Information

Livistona speciosa is a solitary-stemmed, evergreen palm tree with an unbranched stem growing up to 25 metres tall and 20 - 30cm in diameter. The stem is topped by a dense, globose crown of 40 - 50 fan-shaped leaves with petioles 140 - 160cm long and leaf blades 150 - 200cm wide[, , ].
The plant is harvested from the wild for local use as a medicine and source of materials.

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

Range

E. Asia - Bangladesh, southern China, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia

Habitat

Moist evergreen forest, at elevations from 200 - 3,000 metres[].

Properties

Edibility Rating
Medicinal Rating
Other Uses Rating
Habit	Evergreen Tree
Height	20.00 m
Cultivation Status	Wild

Cultivation Details

Livistona speciosa is a plant of high rainfall areas in tropical and subtropical regions of eastern Asia[].

Edible Uses

The seeds are eaten as a substitute for betel nut (Areca catechu)[].

Medicinal

The fruits are used medicinally in Hainan[].

Other Uses

The leaves are commonly used for thatching[, ].
The leaves are woven into hats etc[, ].

Propagation

Seed -

Add a Comment:

If you have any useful information about this plant, please leave a comment. Comments have to be approved before they are shown here.

Name:

Email(Private):

Message:

Captcha: what is lesser, 17 or 71?