Kerriodoxa elegans
Family: Arecaceae / Palmae
White Elephant Palm, King Thai Palm
Origin: Asia
An understory palm of coastal rainforests. It is restricted to two localities on slopes in moist forest along the westcoast of middle peninsular Thailand. A spectacularly attractive, medium sized unarmed fan palm, with large dark green leaves, which are silvery white underneath. This palm has only recently been introduced to cultivation, but is becoming very popular in the tropics and sub-tropics as a garden and container plant. Because it is dioecious (requiring both male and female plants) the seed is often not available from cultivated plants. For this reason, it has been an expensive item, normally reserved for collectors. Likes a shady, sheltered, warm, moist, well drained position, even though it is surprisingly hardy for a palm with such a tropical background, being able to withstand temperatures down to 34F without any apparent ill effects.
