Corypha lecomtei

Corypha lecomtei, the lan palm or Thai talipot, is a massive fan palm of the seasonally dry lowlands of eastern Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and southern Vietnam. Its very long leaf stalks are edged with a black band and small black teeth, and carry stiff, greyish-green leaves about 3 m wide.

Like every Corypha, it grows for decades, then flowers just once, raising an enormous pyramid-shaped flowering head above the crown before dying. In Thailand its durable leaves were once used for sacred palm-leaf manuscripts.

At a glance

• Native range: Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam
• Mature size: trunk about 6–10 m (5–15 m) at flowering; crown 7–8 m across
• Growth rate: very slow as a seedling
• Light: open, sunny sites
• Water: fairly drought resistant once established
• Cold hardiness: leaves damaged at about −2 °C; colder spells can kill it
• Indoors / outdoors: an outdoor palm for warm climates with ample space

Care

Plant it with its eventual size in mind, in a sunny, open position. It is not fussy about soil and tolerates long dry seasons. Remember that it flowers once, several decades after planting, and then dies.

Why Palmpedia: Grown in our greenhouse in Almeirim, Portugal, and supplied in 15 L to 35 L pots.