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Raphia australis
Also called Rafia, Kosi Palm, Raphia Palm
In Singapore: Kosi Palm, Southern Raphia (Cultivated in Singapore)
Raphia australis is a large single-trunked palm of the raffia group, native to swampy coastal areas of southern Mozambique and northeastern KwaZulu-Natal. It needs consistently wet or waterlogged soil and is grown mainly in tropical or warm subtropical gardens.
Raphia australis, the giant palm, Kosi Palm, or rafia, is a species of raffia palm in the family Arecaceae. It is found around Kosi Bay in southern Mozambique and northeastern KwaZulu Natal in South Africa. It is threatened by habitat loss caused by drainage of its habitat for agriculture; it is being threatened in the Bobole Special Reserve but is more secure in the Kosi Bay area.
Raphia australis is endemic to Gaza Province in southern Mozambique and near Kwangwanase at Kosi Bay in KwaZulu Natal in South Africa. There are four subpopulations, the largest one being at Manhiça District in Mozambique where there are about 4,000 mature individuals. This palm grows in swamps, peat bogs and seasonally flooded dunes.
[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 Raphia australis 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.
