Licuala grandis

Native home of Licuala grandis

Licuala grandis is a wet-tropical island palm native from the Santa Cruz Islands to Vanuatu. It grows alone beneath taller trees in humid forest, where its broad pleated leaves receive filtered light. The palm is naturally slow-growing, and its slender trunk develops gradually beneath the broad leaf crown.

Young plants already display the nearly circular, largely undivided fan leaves for which the species is cultivated. As the palm ages, its trunk becomes visible and flower clusters can extend beyond the crown, followed by red or orange-red fruit. Cultivation has carried this island palm far beyond its small southwestern Pacific range.

Care for palms in containers

• Grooming and repotting: Keep green fronds even when their edges are mechanically torn, and never cut the single central spear. Repot infrequently and preserve the root mass.
• Gentle settling: Protect the large pleated leaves from abrasion and abrupt sun after delivery.
• Light: Use bright filtered light. Gentle early or late sun may be introduced gradually, but harsh direct sun bleaches and scorches the broad blades.
• Water: Do not allow the root ball to dry completely, but never leave it saturated. Complete drying damages the leaf margins, while waterlogging excludes air from the fine roots.
• Substrate: An organic palm medium should hold some moisture yet remain open enough for fine roots to breathe; drainage must be unobstructed.
• Warmth and humidity: This island palm needs stable temperatures, humid air and protection from cold draughts. Very dry heated air can make the broad leaf margins dry and brown.
• Feeding: Apply dilute palm fertiliser with a complete micronutrient profile during active growth.

When problems appear

• Brown tips and margins: Drought, mineral salts, dry air, cold injury and impaired roots can look alike. Check root-ball moisture and firmness before changing humidity or feeding.
• Large pale patches: Damage on the light-facing side indicates sunburn. Move the palm into filtered light; the bleached tissue will not recover.
• Loose central spear: A new spear that pulls out with a soft or foul base indicates serious crown or root decay.
• Older frond yellowing: Slow loss of one low frond can be normal. Several yellowing leaves, especially with wet mix, require a root, temperature and light check.
• Torn fan edges: Tears from handling, wind or dry unfolding cannot knit together, but a green torn blade still feeds the palm. Retain it unless it is dead or diseased.
• Mites, scale and mealybugs: Fine stippling suggests mites; fixed bumps or cottony deposits indicate scale or mealybugs. Inspect the pleats and petiole bases carefully before treatment.
• Patterned yellowing: Nutrient shortages vary with leaf age and the tissues affected. Correct root and salt problems first, then use a complete palm fertiliser rather than an indiscriminate high-nitrogen dose.

Keep Licuala grandis away from children and pets

• Keep this plant away from children, cats and dogs.
• Its effects after chewing or swallowing are unclear, and plant material can still cause an upset stomach.
• Contact a veterinarian or medical professional if symptoms develop or do not settle.

Licuala grandis: name and meaning

Licuala comes from the Makassar palm name leko wala. The Latin epithet grandis means large or grand.

Friedrich von Wurmb established the genus Licuala in 1780 in Verhandelingen van het Bataviaasch Genootschap van Kunsten en Wetenschappen, volume 2, page 469.

Thomas Moore first described it as Pritchardia grandis in 1874 in Gardeners’ Chronicle, new series, volume 1, page 92. Hermann Wendland later placed it in Licuala as Licuala grandis in 1880 in L’Illustration Horticole, volume 27, plate 412.