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Phoenix pusilla
Arecaceae FAMILY

Phoenix pusilla

Phoenix pusilla

Edibility
3/5
Medicinal
0/5

Safety & Hazards

None known

Cultivation Details

HabitEvergreen Tree
Growth—

A plant of the drier, lowland tropics, where it is found at elevations up to 700 metres. Plants can tolerate some frost[1]. Requires a sunny position, succeeding in most well-drained soil[1, 2]. Tolerant of some salt in the soil[1]. Phoenix species are quite liable to hybridize where the various species meet as a result of cultivation[3]. A dioecious species - both male and female forms need to be grown if seed is required.

Propagation

Seed - pre-soak for 24 hours prior to sowing[4]. The seed germinates best at a temperature of 21 - 27°c[4]. Division of offsets[4]. Cite as: Tropical Plants Database, Ken Fern. tropical.theferns.info. 2026-02-20. <tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Phoenix+pusilla>

Pollinators

Data unavailable

References

  1. [1]Palm and Cycad Societies of Australia. — http://www.pacsoa.org.au/ ↩︎Contains at least a little information on the majority of palm and cycad species, plus a wealth of photographs. A first class website.
  2. [2]Encyclopedia of Tropical Plants - Identification and Cultivation of over 3,000 Tropical Plants — Ahmed Fayaz · Firefly Books Ltd.; New Zealand · 2011 · ISBN 978-1-55407-489 ↩︎A good photograph and terse but detailed information for over 3,000 species of tropical plants. An excellent reference.
  3. [3]A Monograph of Phoenix L. (Palmae; Coryphoidede) — Barrow S.C. · 1998 · http://10.2307/4110478 ↩︎
  4. [4]The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. — Huxley. A. · MacMillan Press · 1992 · ISBN 0-333-47494-5 ↩︎Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.
  5. [5]A Handbook to the Flora of Ceylon — Trimen H.; continued by Hooker J.D. · Dulau and Co; London. · 1898 · http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org ↩︎Very dated, but still a useful work. It can be downloaded from the Internet.
  6. [6]A Manual of Indian Timbers. — Gamble. J. S. · Bishen Singh Mahendra Pal Singh · 1972 · ISBN - ↩︎First written in the 19th century, but still a classic, giving a lot of information on the uses and habitats of Indian trees. Not for the casual reader.
  7. [7]Mansfeld's Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Plants — http://mansfeld.ipk-gatersleben.de/pls/htmldb_pgrc/f?p=185:3:4292127278597336 ↩︎Terse details of a huge range of useful plants.
  8. [8]Cornucopia II — Facciola. S. · Kampong Publications, California. · 1998 · ISBN 0-9628087-2-5 ↩︎The second edition of an excellent guide to the edible uses of plants, though it does not give any details of cultivation etc.
  9. [9]Dictionary of Economic Plants. — Uphof. J. C. Th. · Weinheim · 1959 · ISBN - ↩︎An excellent and very comprehensive guide but it only gives very short descriptions of the uses without any details of how to utilize the plants. Not for the casual reader.