Corypha lecomtei Beccari, Arecaceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Risk assessment results:  Evaluate; score: 2 (Hawaii-Pacific Weed Risk Assessment for Corypha lecomtei)

Common name(s): [more details]

English: lan palm, thi tailpot palm

Habit:  tree

Description:  "Solitary trunk, monoecious, (both sexes on one plant), monocarpic, (inflorescence is terminal, dies after it flowers), which means it has only one chance to bear fruit, (like Caryota genus). Up to 6 meters tall, with a diameter of 70 cm., old leaves form a skirt, leaves are costapalmate, ascendant, (upright), with leaf tips slightly drooping, gray-green in color, the leaf itself about 2 meters long, on a 6 meter long, armed petiole, with 1 cm. long thorns, green with black borders, and unsplit at the base, with about a 3 meter spread, 10 meter tall inflorescence, on a 2 meter tall penduncle, with whitish flowers, the blossom occurs when the tree is between 40 and 60 years old, when it has stored a great deal of starches, that are converted to sugars, in order to produce the massive inflorescence, fruit is globular, 7-8 cm. long, and brownish in color." "Even though still a large palm, this species from Southeast Asia and southern China is of considerably more moderate size than the other members of this genus. It forms a moderately tall, solitary trunk, topped by a large crown of massive, circular, deep green, costapalmate leaves. Like all Corypha, every plant frowers only once with a very large terminal infloresecence that produces thousands of golfball-sized seeds." (Palm Pedia)

Habitat/ecology:  "Corypha lecomtei is endemic to Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam, where it grows in dry forests, and in open spaces along the small rivers and streams, up to an altitude of about 600 meters." (PalmPedia)

In cultivation, "Has a fair resistance to drought. Hardiness: may tolerate -2 degrees C.... It tolerates cooler conditions than other Corypha and apart from tropical areas, it will also grow in some warm temperate places." (Palm Pedia)

Propagation:  In cultivation, propagation by seed: "Sow deep, germinates in 3-6 months. Has a fair resistance to drought. Hardiness: may tolerate -2 degrees C." (PalmPedia)

Native range:  "Corypha lecomtei is endemic to Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam, where it grows in dry forests, and in open spaces along the small rivers and streams, up to an altitude of about 600 meters." (PalmPedia)

Impacts and invaded habitats:  If you know of other invaded habitats or impacts, please let us know.

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Hawai‘i (Big) Island	introduced cultivated	Lundkvist Palm Garden (year unknown) accessed 20180923

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Asia Asia	Laos	native	PalmPedia (2017) accessed 20180923
Cambodia Cambodia	Cambodia (Kingdom of)	native	PalmPedia (2017) accessed 20180923
Thailand Thailand	Thailand (Kingdom of)	native cultivated	PalmPedia (2017) see photos, accessed 20180923
Vietnam Vietnam	Vietnam (Socialist Republic of)	native	PalmPedia (2017) accessed 20180923

Also reported from
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
India India	India (Republic of)	cultivated	PalmPedia (2017) see photos, accessed 20180923

Comments:  "The plant is little cultivated outside its origin zone and there are not, for instance, many information about its resistance to the low temperatures. It looks like that the leaves get damages at -2 °C, and that the whole plant dies when the temperatures decrease of further two, three degrees, even if for very short time. It does not seem too demanding about the soil and it may resist to drought periods, as on the other hand happens in its habitat." (Monaco Nature Encyclopedia)

Control:  If you know of control methods for Corypha lecomtei, please let us know.