Ravenea xerophila

Welcome to the PACSOA Palms and Cycads wiki! If you have any information about this species, please help by updating this article. Once you are registered you can contribute, change, or correct the text, and even add photos on this page. Click on the edit tab above and play around. Any mistake can be easily corrected, so don't be afraid.

Figure 1. Two plants of R. xerophila.

Habitat:

Dry, open forest of south Madagascar.

Description:

A medium to large palm to about 8m tall, with gracefully arching leaves to about 3m long, with very narrow leaflets.

General:

This plant develops a very vigorous root system of fleshy white roots, where it stores up water for dry times.

Culture:

Full sun, and very well drained. Does seem to be able to take quite a lot of water, as long as the drainage is good. Quite a slow grower. Notice the roots already starting to come out of the bottom of the pot.

Figure 2. Looking into the crown of a mature plant.

Figure 3. R. xerophila in habitat, Madagascar.

Contributed by:

Mike Gray (Figure 1)
Gunter Gottlebe (Figure 2)
Rolf Kyburz, (Figure 3 - from Palms&Cycads No. 70)

External Links:

Kew, PalmWeb, IUCN, JSTOR, Trebrown

Google, GoogleImages, Flickr, PalmTalk