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Calamus radicalis
Vicious hairy mary is a climbing rainforest palm from northeast Queensland that uses hooked spines to scramble up trees toward the canopy. It is a species, and it is not a plant to grow in a home garden without space and tolerance for spines.
Calamus radicalis, commonly known as vicious hairy mary, is a plant in the palm family Arecaceae endemic to the rainforests of northeast Queensland, Australia. Like other species in the genus Calamus, this is a climbing plant with a very long and flexible stem. It uses sharp strong hooks on the fronds and tendrils to attach itself to other vegetation, such as taller established trees, thus gaining support that enables it to grow higher towards the canopy. This species is very similar to C. australis, with which it coexists, but is larger in almost all respects.
This species is restricted to coastal parts of northeast Queensland, from Cape Tribulation southwards to near Mackay. It grows in well developed lowland and highland rainforest, reaching its best development on soils derived from volcanic rocks. The altitudinal range is from sea level to about 800 m (2,600 ft).
Calamus acanthospathus · Wait-a-while · Calamus bousigonii · Calamus brandisii · Calamus calospathus · Fishtail Lawyer Cane · Calamus compsostachys · Calamus · Dragon's Blood · Calamus dumetosus · Calamus egregius · Calamus elegans
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Calamus radicalis 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.
