A delightful palm which has exploded in popularity and is now widely planted in many countries.

Plants have proved to be fast growing and adaptable. Best growth is achieved in drier tropical regions but success has also been gained in the subtropics. Plants demand good drainage but seedlings will take hot sun from an early age.

Ornamental features include a slender, closely ringed, columnar to slightly bottle shaped trunk, graceful, arching, densely plumose fronds, a slender crownshaft and colourful clusters of large, orange-red fruit. The species occurs naturally in the Melville Range, near Bathurst Bay on Cape York Peninsula, north-eastern Queensland. It grows in loose, granitic, sandy soils among huge granite boulders. The climate is tropical, with a prolonged dry season.