Rhapidophyllum hystrix

Needle Palm

Arecaceae (Palmae)

Plant Specifics

Form:	Shrub
Size:	6 ft tall by 6 ft wide
Life Span:	Long-lived perennial
Flower Color:	White
Fruit Color:	NA
Phenology:	Evergreen
Noted for:	Interesting foliage, Thorns

Landscaping

Recommended Uses:	Specimen plant, edge, understory shrub. Can be grown in a large container.
Considerations:	Old leaf bases form long stiff spines.
Propagation:	Seed or by division of clumps. It takes determination to dig and divide a large needle palm, but it is relatively easy to transplant the suckers. Seeds germinate in about 6 to 12 months
Availability:	Native nurseries
Light:	Part Shade,  Shade
Moisture Tolerance:	always floodedextremely dry
	(Usually moist, occasional inundation ----- to ----- Not wet but not extremely dry)
Moisture Tolerance:	Usually moist, occasional inundation ----- to ----- Not wet but not extremely dry
Salt Water Flooding Tolerance:	Not salt tolerant of inundation by salty or brackish water.
Salt Spray/ Salty Soil Tolerance:	Low/no tolerance of salty wind or direct salt spray
Soil or other substrate:	Clay, Loam, Sand
Soil pH:

Ecology

Wildlife:
Insects:	Attracts beetles
Native Habitats:	Moist-wet sites. Seep slope forests, regularly but shallowly inundated floodplains, seepage swamps especially associated with springs, hydric seepage slopes, and at times, some of the adjacent non-hydric slope, hydric hammock, moist upland bluffs adjacent to rivers.

Distribution and Planting Zones

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