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Hyophorbe verschaffeltii
Also called Spindle Palm
Hyophorbe verschaffeltii, the spindle palm, is a slender palm with a swollen trunk that bulges in the middle, native only to Rodrigues island and critically endangered in the wild. It is widely grown as an ornamental in warm climates and works well in containers that can be moved away from frost.
Hyophorbe verschaffeltii, the palmiste marron or spindle palm, is a critically endangered species of flowering plant in the family Arecaceae. It is endemic to Rodrigues island, Mauritius, but is widely grown in cultivation.
Spindle palms are fairly cold intolerant. They are defoliated at 32 °F (0 °C) and may be killed at anything below that. If the palm does survive a freeze, the next few emerging leaves are stunted. Spindle palms grow in the US in south Florida and in isolated favored microclimates along the coastlines of the Tampa-St.Petersburg-Clearwater areas as well as the Cape Canaveral and Satellite Beach areas of central Florida. They do make good container plants that can be protected from a freeze.
Spindle palms are endemic to Rodrigues island, Mauritius. It is threatened by habitat loss. There are only fifty or so specimens left in the wild, although its survival as a species is guaranteed due to ubiquitous cultivation in tropical areas of the planet.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Hyophorbe verschaffeltii 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.
