The unique wide bottle-shaped tree is commonly planted in tropics for decorative purposes in gardening. The Bottle palm is one of the most interesting Florida palm trees. It is very popular in the Sunshine State for its sculptural shape, small size and ease of care. Also it is a very good container plant. The Bottle Palm is very well established in cultivation, but naturally it is nearly extinct.

Additional Information:

Scientific name: Hyophorbe Lagenicaulis

Family: Arecaceae

Genus: Hyophorbe

Name: It is named the Bottle palm because its trunk looks like a bottle. The genus name Hyophorbe means pig’s food in greek (the fruits has been eaten by pigs). 

Other names: Palmiste Gargoulette, Pig nut palm, Champagne palm.

Origin: It is native to Round Island and Mauritius Island in the Indian Ocean.

Growth rate: It is slow growing.

Trunk: The bottle-shaped, smooth, self-cleaning, ringed, bulged at the base, grey trunk grows up to 10-12 feet tall and up to 2 feet in diameter.

Leaves: The small crown of 4-6 pinnate, arching away leaves sits on the top of the trunk. Even on mature trees you always can find no more than 4-6 leaves.

Indoor/Outdoor Use: Both

Maintenance: Low

Light exposure: It prefers full sun or light shade.

Water requirements: It has to be irrigated regulary. Many people assume that the swollen trunk stores water but that’s not true at all.

Drought toleration: It is moderate drought tolerant.

Cold toleration: The palm is very cold sensitive. It can’t take temperature below 32F, the palm can be killed. Mature palms can take light frost for short periods, but leaves will be damaged.

Flowers: The stalks of white flowers come at the base of leaves. The flowers are monoecious, female and male flowers occur on the same plant.

Fruits: The trees form oval green fruits. When ripe they become black.

Propagation: It is propagated from seed. Germination occur  within 4-6 months.

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