Latania lontaroides Red Palm
Scientific name: Latania lontaroides or Latania lontarodes
Common names: The Red Latan Palm is also known as Latania borbonica, Latania commersonii, and Latanier Rouge.
Origin: It is native to the island of Reunion where they are being threatened with extinction.
Appearance: It has a single clean trunk, slightly swollen at the base. The trunk is smooth, woody, about 10 inches in diameter, and lightly ringed by the scars from the fallen fronds.
Large, palmate, or fan-shaped, leaves create a rounded crown 15-20ft across. Stiff leaves are supported by large armed stems 4-5ft long. Young palms have reddish leaves, petiole, leaf margins, and veins, hence this palm’s common name Red Latan Palm. As they grow their leaves lose their colour and turn green. Leaf stems and the leave margins always stay red. The surface of each leaf is covered with a whitish, waxy deposit, providing a silvery appearance to the palm.
Flowers/Fruits: During spring, the Red Latan Palm produces small yellow flowers that grow in clusters on 6ft long inflorescence that emerge from among the leaves. Red Latan Palm is dioecious, male and female flowers are born on separate plants. Flowers are followed by oval fruit. The fruit is brownish-green, fleshy, 2-3 inches long, with a single seed inside. The seed is round at one end but pointed at the other.
Growth Rate: Slow. Latania lontaroides is a slow-growing palm that can grow up to 30 – 40 ft tall with a 15-20 ft widespread.
Outdoor/Indoor Use: Both.
Cold Tolerance: The minimum temperature this palm tree can withstand when mature enough is -6C.
Light Required: Partial shade to Full sun.
Water Required: Moderate. It grows best in moist well-drained soil.
Maintenance: Easy. To prevent nutritional deficiency, apply good quality palm fertilizer that has continuous release formula twice a year during the growing season.
Propagation: Propagated by seed.