Areca vestiaria is a slender tree palm from the rainforests of eastern Indonesia, especially North Sulawesi, valued for its red to orange crownshaft that varies with altitude. It needs warm, humid, shaded or filtered conditions and a sheltered spot to thrive.
Family
Arecaceae (Palm family)
Grows as
Palm
Light
Part shade, Bright indirect
Water
Keep the soil evenly moist during growth and let the top layer dry lightly between waterings.
Soil
Rich, well-draining peaty or loamy mix with organic matter.
Temperature
20–32 °C; protect below 15 °C
How easy
Moderate
Native range
Sulawesi to Maluku
Climate
wet tropical
About
Areca vestiaria (pinang yaki or pinang merah) is a species of palm native to the rainforests of eastern Indonesia especially North Sulawesi. Its morphology is more diverse than other species of palms, and in particular the color of its upper trunk / crownshaft changes depending on altitude (varying between red and orange).
The people of Sulawesi, near Bogani Nani Wartabone National Park, have long used the fruit of this palm as a male contraceptive. They drink a decoction of the fruit flesh boiled in water. The chemical composition of the fruit has been investigated with this in mind, but this does not represent evidence of its effectiveness as an antifertility agent.
[Contains information from Leaf Area Index (LAI) and Heritage Trees from data.gov.sg (National Parks Board), made available under the terms of the Singapore Open Data Licence version 1.0]
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Areca vestiaria by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.