Areca palm, butterfly palm

Chrysalidocarpus lutescens H. Wendland, Bot. Zeitung (Berlin) 36: 117. 1878

Leaves 2--2.5 m; segments 60--70 cm, strongly ascending. Fruits yellow, ellipsoid, 2.0--2.5 cm; yellow; apex acute; stigmatic scar basal. 2n = 32.

Flowering spring-- through summer. Moist organic soil over limestone in mesic hammocks and disturbed wooded areas; 0--10 m; introduced; Fla.; native, Africa (native to Madagascar).

This species is a commonly cultivated ornamental palm in Florida, where it has escaped and sporadically naturalized in Dade County.