Areca vestiaria

Areca vestiaria “Orange Collar Palm” Natural Habitat: Naturally found in the Northern most area of the Sulawesi Islands and neighboring Maluku Province of Indonesia. Description: A highly sought after collectors palm due to its colorful bright crownshaft that is colored by shades of orange, red, and yellow. These bright colors begin to show even from a very young age. The crownshaft emerges 8-12 pinnate green leaves that are held on short orange and yellow petioles (branches). The medium sized trunk keeps a light green color near the crownshaft that fades to gray as it ages. The trunk is also covered with tightly packed rings left by the oldest falling leaves. The vestiaria is most often a naturally clustering palm that will form medium sized clusters over time. The palm will begin to cluster around a one gallon size, forming a decent size cluster by a 3 gallon size Environment: The vestiaria enjoys a shady wet area where it will keep moist throughout the day. As a young tree it enjoys heavy shade, but can take more and more filtered sun as it ages. It is not cold hardy, and cannot handle temperatures under 40 without serious damage or death. Frost and freezes usually turn out to be fatal. However we have seen protected specimen survive in oak canopies in Zones9b.