Wodyetia bifurcata - Meet the Plants - National Tropical Botanical Garden Plant Database

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Wodyetia bifurcata - foxtail palm with mature (red) and immature (green) fruit

foxtail palm with mature (red) and immature (green) fruit (photo)

(photo)

Taxonomy:

Wodyetia bifurcata (Arecaceae)

Common Name:
Foxtail Palm
(Jones, D.L. 1995. Palms in Australia.)

Description:

Wodyetia bifurcata is a beautiful solitary palm with a canopy of eight to ten leaves. The leaflets encircle the rachis and are full, thus creating the appearance of a fox's tail.

The trunk is slender, gray in color, tightly ringed and swollen at the base, about 10 m tall. Its crown shaft is a creamy green and very smooth.
The Foxtail Palm's green inflorescence is borne on a thick stem emerging from the crown shaft. The oval shaped fruits turn orange-red at maturity forming an attractive display. Fruits are large (about the size of a duck egg) and produce the palm seed.
(Jones, D.L. 1995. Palms in Australia.)

Geographic Distribution:

Wodyetia bifurcata is endemic to Australia and it is found on exposed gravel hill tops on Cape Melville on Cape York, north Queensland.

(Jones, D.L. 1995. Palms in Australia.)

Status:

Even today, the Queensland Government still has the palm on its endangered species list, even tho there are now tens of thousands of the palms growing throughout the world, many of which are now fruiting.

(Jones, D.L. 1995. Palms in Australia.)

Native Legends and Names:

Wodyetia bifurcata was named after an Aboriginal bushman by the name of Wodyeti. He was the last of his line, holding a vast traditional knowledge of the palm's natural habitat. He died in 1978. In 1984 Australian growers discovered the palm.

The Foxtail Palm's name derives from the unusual and attractive bushy fronds, which look somewhat like the tail of a real fox.
Foxtail Palm remained undiscovered till late 20th Century because it is found only in remote area of Queensland, the Bathurst Bay-Melville Range in Australia. Before 1995, seeds were smuggled illegally out of Australia to growers in Florida as well as other parts of the world.
After 1995, the seeds and trees were legally to be exported. Due to this very recent discovery, the Foxtail Palm is basically unknown on the West Coast.
(Jones, D.L. 1995. Palms in Australia.)

(Information for this species compiled and recorded by Camelia Cirnaru, NTBG Consultant.)

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