''Caryota'' is a genus of palm trees. They are often known as fishtail palms because of the shape of their leaves. There are about 13 species native to Asia (China, India, Indonesia, etc.), northern Australia, and the

South Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

.Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
/ref> One of the more widely known species is ''

Caryota urens ''Caryota urens'' is a species of flowering plant in the palm family, native to Sri Lanka, India, Myanmar and Malaysia (perhaps elsewhere in Indo-Malayan region), where they grow in fields and rainforest clearings, it is regarded as introduced ...

'', the flowers of which are used to make one type of

jaggery Jaggery is a traditional non-centrifugal cane sugar consumed in the Indian Subcontinent, Southeast Asia, and Africa. It is a concentrated product of cane juice and often date or palm sap without separation of the molasses and crystals, and can ...

(an unrefined sugar), and also to make palm wine. '' Caryota mitis'' is native to Indochina, but has become an invasive introduced species in the US state of Florida. They are also one of the few

Arecaceae The Arecaceae is a family of perennial flowering plants in the monocot order Arecales. Their growth form can be climbers, shrubs, tree-like and stemless plants, all commonly known as palms. Those having a tree-like form are called palm trees ...

with bipinnate foliage. Many grow in mountainous areas and are adapted to warm

mediterranean climates A Mediterranean climate (also called a dry summer temperate climate ''Cs'') is a temperate climate sub-type, generally characterized by warm, dry summers and mild, fairly wet winters; these weather conditions are typically experienced in the ...

as well as subtropical and tropical climates.Govaerts, R. & Dransfield, J. (2005). World Checklist of Palms: 1-223. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Fishtail palms contain raphides.

Species

Gallery

File:Fishtail palm.JPG, Fishtail palm at Bhopal File:Fishtail palm1.JPG, Fishtail palm at Bhopal File:Fishtail-palm-flower-detail.jpg, Fishtail palm flower in detail. File:Fishtail palm at Chandigarh.jpg, Fishtail palm at Chandigarh File:Fishtail palm - close up.jpg, Fishtail palm - close up File:Leaves of Fishtail palm tree.jpg, Leaves of fishtail palm tree File:Fishtail palm - detail.jpg, Fishtail palm - detail

References

External links

USDA Plants ProfileGRIN Species listPalm Guide
{{Authority control Arecaceae genera Garden plants of Asia Garden plants of Oceania Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus