Salacca magnifica: Prickly customer

摘要

IT is always an eye-opener to walk around a botanic gardens in a different climatic zone to that in which you garden. This was the case when I strolled around the Cairns Botanic Gardens recently. I was entranced by the vibrant reds, oranges and yellows of the ornamental gingers and he-liconias, which were enlivened with flashes of electric blue when a Ulysses butterfly chanced by. The gardens have a great display of tropical palms with enormous leaves and it was hard to see where the damage was wrought by Cyclone Yasi six months previously. My eye was caught by a particular palm -Salacca magnifica from Indonesia. There are between 15 and 20 species in the genus Salacca and it is in the Arecaceae family. The name of the genus comes from the Malay name of salak. This clumping palm never forms a trunk but produces huge undivided leaves up to 6m in length.