Dypsis lutescens (Golden Cane Palm)

Common Names: Golden Cane Palm, Bamboo Palm, Areca Palm, Yellow Cane Palm, Yellow Areca Palm, Butterfly Palm, Golden Fruited Palm, Madagascar Palm, Yellow Palm

Botanical Name: Dypsis lutescens (H.Wendl.) Beentje & & J.Dransf.

Synonyms: Areca flavescens Voss, Chrysalidocarpus glaucescens Waby, Chrysalidocarpus lutescens H.Wendl.

Family: Arecaceae

Distribution: Native to Madagascar.

Uses:

Commonly known as Golden Cane Palm or Areca Palm, features graceful yellow-green fronds. Ideal for interiors and landscapes, it is easy to care for and air-purifying.
Perfect as an accent plant in living rooms, offices, or commercial spaces for a tropical ambiance.
Popular for creating natural privacy screens or hedges in outdoor landscapes.
Enhances patios, balconies, and entryways with its elegant, feathery foliage.
Complements water features, garden pathways, and poolside settings in tropical-themed designs.
Often used in large containers or planters for decorating lobbies, atriums, and hotels.
Recognized for its ability to soften architectural lines and add greenery to modern spaces.
Effective in group plantings for lush, dense, and dramatic green displays.

Dypsis lutescens (Golden Cane Palm)

Outdoors, it typically grows to 3-9 m tall. Stem caespitose, has multiple-rings, sometimes resemble bamboo when suckers are removed, hence the common name of bamboo palm. Stems are topped with pinnate, upward-curving, light green 1-2 m long leaves; leaflets are narrowly lanceolate, 40-60 per side. Flowers yellow, present in panicles. Fruits ellipsoid, yellow-orange, ca. 1.3 cm long, black when ripe.

Cultivation: Grows in full sun to partial shade, requiring well-drained fertile moist soil with no salt tolerance; usually pest-free. Propagated by seeds and division of off-shoots.

Etymology: The genus name “Dypsis” is derived from the ancient Greek words dypto or dyptein, meaning to dip or dive, and dyptes, meaning a diver, possibly referring to species that occur abundantly along riverbeds. The specific epithet “lutescens” is Latin, meaning yellowing or becoming yellow, referring to the yellowish colour of the stems and leaf petioles commonly observed in this palm.