PlantFiles: Australian Cabbage Palm
Livistona australis

This is an interesting palm tree, as being the most southerly species in Australia, extending down into Victoria as a single small stand at Cabbage-tree Creek.
The day I photographed this species, I collected a seedling (with a single blade-like leaf) and I planted it in my garden. It has done well, but has grown very slowly, gradually expanding the size of the crown of the tree. After 15 years it is perhaps beginning to develop a trunk, which is no more than 30 cms so far, but it has a great head of fan-like leaves with very spiny stems.

Relatively common landscape plant in Southern California, at least among palm growers. Not that common in general nurseries. Australian native with classic droopy fan leaves- fairly fast grower... only a few species of Livistona that are faster (decipiens and nitida). Very sharp teeth along petioles. It is one of the easiest palms to grow in zones 9b on up. As an adult, it can be hard to tell apart from many of the other Livistonas- decipiens (now call decorum), nitida, mariae/rigida/occidentalis... all have large palmate, to somewhat costapalmate leaves with drooping leaflet tips. But this one has one of the more finely split leaflets, with on L decipiens maybe being more finely split. As a seedling, this species has more palmate leaves with only a bit of droop, compared to the much finer split L decipeins and the much less droopy L nitida (later has leaves that look like a Washingtonia as a seedling).