This week’s featured palm is the Calyptrocalyx spicatus (common name Maluku Kentia), which is native to the Molluccas Islands in Oceania.
It’s a flowering plant in the palm family, and there are a couple of things about the Calyptrocalyx spicatus species that makes it particularly unique.
- Most Calyptrocalyx species are clustering while a few grow from solitary trunks. This is one of those that are solitary.
- All of the 27 species belonging to the genus Calyptrocalyx are native to Papua New Guinea besides this one, the Calyptrocalyx spicatus . This one is from the Molluccas Islands, which are some 1,832 km miles away from their fellow genus members.
According to the Merwin Palm Database, there are 17 of this species growing in W.S. Merwin’s Palm Forest in Ha’ikū, Maui. Feel free to search the database to explore more of what the poet has planted and stewarded on his land over the years.
For an archive of our Palm Facts of the Week, click here.
To contribute to the future stewardship of the palms, please donate to the Conservancy today.