Family: Arecaceae

This top-rated ornamental palm is commonly used in gardening and landscaping-from roadside plantings to patios. Popular in container plantings due to their feathery-like fronds.

Native to Fiji, they are best suited in tropical and sub-tropical areas but can tolerate a light frost. They can grow up to 100 feet but usually get up to 35 feet in height. They grow fast once established.

Small, immature seeds are eaten as snacks. The leaves and buds are an excellent addition to salads.

Plant Uses:

• Container plant
• Edible
• Hedge
• Ornamental
• Privacy / screening

Plant Dangers:

• No dangers

High Risk Traits:

• Adaptable to a wide range of tropical climates and soil types (zones 10B–11; loamy, sandy, clay, acidic, neutral, slightly alkaline, salt- and drought-tolerant)
  
• Widely introduced as a popular ornamental throughout the tropics
  
• Shade-tolerant as a juvenile
  
• Produces viable, quickly germinating seed
  
• Self-compatible (monoecious, self-pollinating)
  
• Can hybridize naturally with other Veitchia species
  
• Dispersed intentionally by people and by birds (Ducula pigeons); seeds regurgitated by animals

Low Risk Traits:

• No evidence of naturalization, weediness, or dense thicket formation
  
• Lacks spines, thorns, burrs, or toxic/allelopathic properties
  
• No serious pests or diseases recorded
  
• Single-trunked, non-climbing, no vegetative reproduction
  
• Not wind-dispersed; seeds lack attachment structures for unintentional dispersal