Chamaedorea microspadix, the hardy bamboo palm, is a clumping, cane-stemmed palm from eastern Mexico that tolerates cold better than most palms. It grows well in moist soil and bright, filtered light, indoors or out.
Family
Arecaceae (Palm family)
Grows as
Grass, Palm
Light
Full sun
Water
Keep the soil evenly moist in the growing season and let the top few centimetres dry slightly before watering again.
Soil
Well-drained, peat-based or loamy potting mix with added organic matter.
Temperature
18–30 °C; tolerates brief frosts to about −7 °C outdoors, protect below 5 °C indoors
How easy
Easy
Safety
Not known to be toxic
Native range
Mexico (Querétaro to Veracruza and Puebla)
Climate
seasonally dry tropical
About
Chamaedorea microspadix, or the hardy bamboo palm, is a species of flowering plant in the genus Chamaedorea, native to eastern Mexico (Hidalgo, Querétaro, San Luis Potosí, and Veracruz). It is remarkably cold hardy for a palm, able to survive occasional frosts down to 20 °F (−7 °C). Its multiple stalks are jointed, reminiscent of bamboo canes. It is dioecious.
When growing outdoors it prefers moist soil and indirect sunlight, and typically reaches 8–10 ft (2.4–3.0 m). It does well in homes and commercial buildings, usually only reaching 4–6 ft (1.2–1.8 m) when grown in containers. With its low maintenance requirements and showy red fruit, it has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Chamaedorea microspadix 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.