Arenga pinatta

Arenga pinatta.
A young palm seen here in the Palmetum Santa Cruz de Tenerife. This palm has a rugged charm created by the coarse fibres and dead leaf bases on it's trunk, the stiffly held un-arching upright or ascending leaves and leaflets that droop irregularly. In exposed or coastal situations it can look damaged and even rougher. However it has a beauty all of it's own by merit of its huge leaf size, with densley packed leaflets and the firework like radiating form of the crown.
It is also known as the sugar palm becuase of the sweet sap that is extracted from the cut infloresence stem which is then boiled and set into moulds. The sap can also be fermented to make an alcoholic drink and is even considered as a potential source of biofuel.

This specimen growing in Java is probably close to its mature height. It quickly develops a trunk up to about 20m tall and 10m long leaves on top of that. It's rapid growth is spoiled only by the fact that when it reaches full size it flowers and dies, this is known as being monocarpic - bearing seed once. Using this plant in a garden setting needs to be considered very carefully. There can be no doubt that it would make a stunning plant in any horticultural setting but the maintenance work involved in removing its massive leaves as the drop and eventually the whole plant as the dead plant will take much work to remove. Fortunately we have not heard of one flowering in under 20 years. It is usually considered a tropical palm but we have worked with specimens in the south of Spain in sheltered positions, so it can 
withstand warm Mediterranean climates, in equatorial tropical countries we would expect this to have a lifespan of no more than 20 years however.
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