DYPSIS LUTESCENS: CHARACTERISTICS, SOWING, CULTIVATION AND CARE - BIOLOGY - 2025

Dypsis lutescens, also commonly known as the “bamboo palm”, “areca palm”, “butterfly palm” or “golden fruit palm”, is a fast-growing palm, native to Madagascar, that is widely cultivated as a plant of ornamental interest. in many countries.

Almost all known species of palm trees in this genus (Dypsis) originate from the tropical regions of the Americas, Malaysia, and some warm parts of Africa. It is represented by between 2,000 and 3,000 different species that have been described to date.

Photograph of a specimen of Dypsis lutescens (Source: Photo by David J. Stang / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) via Wikimedia Commons)

The areca palm is a vascular plant with very diverse morphological characteristics. This is native to the island of Madagascar and its surroundings. However, it is currently cultivated in many parts of the world as a typical ornamental garden plant.

Cuba is one of the countries with the main export of the areca palm to other countries in the world. Due to its great commercial interest, in many producing gardens on the island, manuals have been developed with very specialized methodologies for its cultivation and care.

Dypsis lutescens characteristics

- Botanists and gardeners classify it as a beautiful "bush" that can reach 10 m in height.

- It grows in a grouped way in "clusters", generating asexual sprouts or offspring, which arise from an initial shoot or first sown stem. These children can later give rise to new shoots, so it is a plant that is easy and fast to propagate or multiply.

- It has long stems that when developed are divided into segments or rings (these divisions give it the name of "bamboo palm"). In its development, the stem increases in height and thickness progressively and only stops when it reaches adulthood, several years later.

- The leaves are compound type and each individual piece (pines or leaflets) is green in color and, when exposed to large amounts of sunlight, turns golden-yellow. The leaves grow covered by a cylindrical sheath, and as the plant grows, they increase in size.

Dypsis lutescens leaves (Source: Photo by David J. Stang / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) via Wikimedia Commons)

Sometimes, when the stem and the fruits develop exposed to the sun, they also turn golden-yellow. This coloration is what gives it the common name of "golden palm" or "butterfly palm".

- The flowers grow as inflorescences in the form of clusters, covered by bracts (called spathes). Generally the flowers are monoecious and unisexual, small and "cream" in color. Each stem produces, on average, two clusters of inflorescences in each flowering cycle.

- These palms are pollinated by the wind and by insects such as bees, beetles, or butterflies.

Photography of Dypsis lutescens flowers (Source: The original uploader was Monocromatico at Portuguese Wikipedia. / CC BY-SA (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) via Wikimedia Commons)

- The fruit is fleshy, of a "cream" color, with a size of 5 centimeters long, approximately; it contains only one seed per fruit and is generally edible.

Taxonomy

The Dypsis lutescens palm, like all plants, is a multicellular eukaryotic organism. It belongs to the Viridiplantae clade and the Mesangiospermae clade.

The taxonomic classification of D. lutescens most commonly used by botanists is shown below:

- Eukaryote

- Phylum: Vascular Plants (Tracheophyta)

- Class: Liliopsida

- Order: Arecales

- Family: Arecaceae

- Subfamily: Arecoideae

- Tribe: Areceae

- Genus: Dypsis

- Species: Dypsis lutescens

In some works a variation of the genus Dypsis by Dypsis -Noroña is observed, which was discovered and identified by H. Well, Beentje and J. Dransf.

Within the species Dypsis lutescens a lot of plasticity has been found in terms of morphological characteristics, for which some specimens have been identified as different species.

The Dypsis lutescens palm is within the Liliopsida class, which was previously known as the Monocot class. However, currently monocots are not recognized as a formal group, since the ancestor that gave rise to this group is not known.

Sowing and growing

Dypsis lutescens is a tropical plant species that requires temperatures between 18 and 30 ◦C to reach its full development. However, it has a great tolerance to low temperatures, although they considerably delay its growth.

Seed germination requires moist soils and temperatures between 21 and 38 ◦C. In general, the plant requires humid environments, with a relative humidity between 60 and 80%, but it can survive in environments with a minimum humidity of 30%.

Ornamental specimen of Dypsis lutescens (Source: KENPEI / CC BY-SA (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) via Wikimedia Commons)

Perhaps the most important aspect for plant growth is sunlight, as it requires extended periods of time in direct sunlight. In case the light is not strong enough, this can slow its growth or even pause it, remaining the same size for years.

The long periods of time with light are important, especially in its youthful stage. When it is in adulthood it can be kept in shady places. It is optimal for windy environments, as it has considerably resistant stems.

It is a plant, as mentioned, easy to propagate through shoots. However, to start new plantations or crops it is advisable to do so from the sexual seeds, which are collected from the fruit once it is pulped, are dehydrated and later sown.

Cultivation and care

- Soil

The soil where D. lutescens is grown must have a slightly clayey texture, which allows a great exchange of oxygen with the roots of the plant and a good drainage at the time of irrigation. It must allow the roots to be buried at least 1.20 m deep, so it is recommended that it be well “loose”.

It must have organic matter in moderate quantity, in order to maintain a good moisture content that is maintained with light waterings.

- Irrigation

The amount of water with which it is watered will depend on the soil in which the plant is found; substrates with little organic matter dry out quickly after irrigation, so more intense watering is necessary.

It is recommended that the plant be watered at least once a week and, in hot weather, it should be increased to twice a week.

- Fertilization

Unlike most plants, palm trees do not require fertilizer during the first stages of their development, since the substances in the endosperm of their seeds provide the embryo inside with enough food for at least two or three months..

After that time it is recommended that the seedlings and growing plants be fertilized once a month with 3 grams of any fertilizer rich in nitrogen and phosphorus (NP).

References

1. Basu, SK, & Mondol, S. (2012). Precocious flowering in Dypsis lutescens.
2. Benítez, B., & Soto, F. (2010). The cultivation of the areca palm (Dypsis lutescens, H. Wendel). Tropical crops, 31 (1), 00-00.
3. Dransfield, J., & Beentje, H. (1995). The palms of Madagascar. Royal Botanic Gardens.
4. Palmweb: Palms of the World Online, in The State of the World's Plants Report – 2016. (2016). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew stateoftheworldsplants.org
5. Simpson, MG (2019). Plant systematics. Academic press.