Thursday, October 22, 2009

Identifying a palm tree

Apart from the Ptychosperma macarthurii (Macarthur palms), we have a couple of palms that are apparently somewhat uncommon, and I'm trying to identify them. They've grown to about 6-8 metres, and are in a clump like the Macarthur palm, though they don't bend outwards in the same way.
identify yellow palm malaysia

The closest I can find is Dypsis lutescens, but even there the trunk is not yellow enough.
identify yellow palm malaysia

I also got some photos of the flowers, which attract bees
palm flower bee
palm flower bee

and the fruit which is a deep purple
identify yellow palm fruit malaysia

Does anyone have any idea of what it is? Any help is welcome!

*Update 29/10/09*
:
Thanks to the commenter anthrome below, and to the helpful people at Palm Talk, our palm tree is confirmed as a Euterpe olearcea aka Acai, apparently the palm hearts and berries are edible too! Gonna have to try that some time.



8 comments:

James David said...

I had not come across a purple palm fruits. This is so beautiful.
Wish I could help - not an expert with palm names.
Hope you manage to get them identified.

Anonymous said...

I'm not a palm expert, but the trunk, fronds and fruit look similar to Euterpe oleracea, the Açai Palm. A fantastic species, very versatile, many uses. You can probably verify the ID quickly by posting your photos on www.palmtalk.org

julian said...

Thanks! I'll check it out.

James David said...

hi Julian,
I have awarded you the Scrap Blog award on my blog. I would love to have you participate, because I enjoy your blog very much. It would be great to learn more about you. If you don't want to, I understand.

julian said...

Hi James, sorry I've been travelling and not keeping up to date with the blog and so on.
Thanks for the compliment and for thinking of me, I'll check out what the Scrap Blog award scheme is :)

Penny McCrea said...

If you still need to identify your palms, Fairchild Tropical Botanical Garden in Coral Gables (Greater Miami). It's got a world-class palmetum and is a research based organization (as well as being a truly spectacular garden.)
Try http://palmguide.org/index.php or www.fairchildgarden.org/centerfortropicalplantconservation/

Unknown said...

The unique beauty and grace of palms make them a perfect choice for landscaping and adding an appealing look to your garden. You can get a wide variety of these mesmerizing tropical plants with fan shaped leaves grown in the most favorable conditions at Athelas plants, a renowned nursery located in East Sussex.
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Unknown said...

Really every post is nice in your site and great way to express natures beauty and few problems, At my work place a beautiful garden and there are some others types of exotic plants and also palms plants. here all images so pretty Really nice to visit your blogspot i'll follow up.