SCIENTIFIC NAME: Corypha utan

COMMON NAME(S): Gebang palm
SUB FAMILY: Coryphoideae
TRIBE: Corypheae
ORIGIN: Southeast Asia, East Indies, Australia
HARDINESS ZONES: 10B-11 (severely damaged or killed at 26 degrees F)
TYPICAL MAXIMUM HEIGHT: 60'
GROWTH RATE: Moderate (slow when young)
HABIT: Solitary; flowers, fruits, then dies; canopy of about 3 dozen leaves
SALT TOLERANCE: Low
DROUGHT TOLERANCE: High
SOIL REQUIREMENTS: Widely adaptable
LIGHT REQUIREMENTS: High
NUTRITION REQUIREMENTS: Moderate
POPULAR USES: Specimen tree
HUMAN HAZARDS: Spiny
POPULAR OR RECOMMENDED CULTIVARS: None

COMMENTS: Gebang palm is one of about 8 Corypha species, two of which are cultivated in tropical landscapes for their spectacular flowering habits. After devoting 30 to 80 years to robust trunk and leaf development, all Corypha species produce a spectacular terminal inflorescence that erupts like a fountain high above the crown of leaves. As the fruits form over the course of a year, the leaves yellow and droop into brown obsolescence. By the time the palm's dramatic display of fecundity is over, the plant is dead. Even as young plants, gebang palms (and the related talipot) require a great deal of room for their massive canopies of large leaves (the largest among fan palms). The huge foliage of all Corypha species is valued in their native habitats for thatch, and palm sugar is made from sap collected from the trunk or inflorescence. Gebang palm often is slow to establish; growth quickens after trunk development. Though drought tolerant, it responds to irrigation during dry periods. C. umbraculifera, the talipot palm, is the largest of the coryphas. It has green leaf stems with small teeth, mostly at the margins of their bases. The inflorescence easily reaches 20' in height. Fruits are 1.25" in diameter. It is known in the 'wild' (India and Sri Lanka) only in association with human settlement.