PlantFiles: Toddy Palm, Fishtail Wine Palm, Jaggery Palm
Caryota urens

Have learn today how nasty the fruits could be ( of this Caryota ) Collected seeds at a round-about from an almost dead tree and cleaned it with bare hands ; have never dealed with such an irritating thing. Have often cleaned Hyophorbe Lagenicaulis ( Bottle Palm ) the same way , it is also irritating BUT NOT LIKE THIS CARYOTA URENS . (May be it should change the name from C. Urens to Devil fruit Palm ) Should have read Palmbobs comments before collecting these seeds !!! .But still a nice palm. Some of them already dead and removed , but sadly replaced by Roystoneas .

Actually, the ones at the Oakland Ca. palmetum have flowered at the ripe age of twenty something. Huge dead trees....I think i will keep mine as a big potted patio plant.

In the San Francisco area you can look at this tree as a more permanent plant since it would grow very slowly and would not flower for about 80 years. Caryota Gigas would be a better option though, although it will look yellow without ennough Nitrogen.

This is an impressive palm, and one of the more commonly grown Caryotas (Fishtail Palms) around Southern California... but it has its problems. The main problem being they are monocarpic. Once they flower, they croak, and then there is a monstrous dead tree to remove from your backyard, or whereever it is. And it's not a simple tree to remove. Caryotas are famous for having some of the hardest wood in the plant kingdom. Chainsaws will barely cut into one alive, and they seem to get harder once they die. On top of that, Caryotas have wimpy root systems. I guess where they're from (the Asian tropics usually) there is little wind and no need for large root systems. Anyway, a good Santa Ana wind will easily knock one of these trees over, and they can weigh several tons. Not good for the surrounding plants, not to mention homes. Lastly, and not least, these huge palms produce thousands of seed during their going away party, and this seed is highly toxic as well as irritating to the touch (full of stinging oxylates), making a slippery, gooey and marble like surface of irritating seeds all around their base. Sure they look great. But careful when they die or in the wind!

By the way, this palm is NOT a good one to move, once you planted it. And don't even buy a large one for planting, either. Often moving or disturbing the roots in any way once over a certain size shocks the palm and it will seed prematurely and die. They are one of the fastest growing palms in existence, so don't be in any hurry. Enjoy them while they're small.
There is some confusion about the true identity of this palm. Dr. Hodel, a palm expert, thinks that the true C urens is actually NOT the plant everyone has in cultivation, and that that palm is Caryota maxima. They look a LOT alike... so just for confusion sake, I am going to ignore that possibility... for now.