Pygmy Date Palm

The Essence

"The pygmy date palm (Phoenix roebelenii), also called the dwarf or miniature date palm, is a small, elegant palm native to southeastern Asia. It is one of the most widely cultivated ornamental palms in tropical and subtropical gardens, and is grown under glass or as a houseplant in cooler climates, having earned the RHS Award of Garden Merit. A dwarf species reaching about 2-7 m (6.6-23 ft), it usually carries a single slender trunk patterned with diamond-shaped leaf scars and a crown of arching, feathery, grey-green pinnate leaves up to 120 cm long bearing around 100 leaflets. The lowermost leaflets are modified into sharp spines, and the plant is dioecious, so its small date-like edible fruits form only on female plants. Native to southwestern China (Yunnan), northern Laos and northern Vietnam, it grows along fast-moving rivers, notably in the Mekong river system, and is unusual among palms for its rheophytic habit. It is cold-tender, surviving only light frost down to about -3 C (27 F), and was included in the NASA Clean Air Study as effective at removing formaldehyde and benzene."

It has received the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit, and was included in the NASA Clean Air Study as effective at removing the household air toxins formaldehyde and benzene.