Slender Lady Palm

The Essence

"Rhapis humilis is a clustering, rhizomatous fan palm whose status in the wild is genuinely unsettled. Flora of China records it from Guangxi and Guizhou and marks it as endemic to China, and World Flora Online treats it as native to south-central and southeast China, introduced to Japan, Vietnam and Java. Against that, Phil Bergman of Jungle Music states that no known plants have been found to exist in the wild and that the plants in cultivation are all domesticated. Flora of China's own treatment carries a caveat from one of its authors, Henderson, who suggests that R. humilis might prove to be just a cultivar of R. excelsa. Despite an epithet meaning 'low', it is the tallest species of the genus, with canes to 6 m. Only male plants are known in cultivation, so seed is not realistically available: propagation is by division, and Bergman warns that seed sold as 'Rhapis humilis' is probably R. multifida or R. excelsa."

Flora of China notes that the species is widely planted as an ornamental and has been introduced in Indonesia (Java) and Japan. Monaco Nature Encyclopedia describes it as standing among the most cultivated ornamental palms, and for the longest time - more than three centuries, first in Japan, then in Europe, particularly for interior decoration. Plants at the Huntington Botanical Garden were reportedly imported in the early 1900s. Buyers should be careful of material offered under this name: Jungle Music warns that seed sold as Rhapis humilis is probably R. multifida or R. excelsa.