Its really hard to get a photo of the entire plant here, because of the way the palm is growing and where it's planted. So I have frond and trunk.
Caryota zebrina, a species of 'fishtail' palm. This species comes from the montagne forest in New Guinea. It is solitary, only carries a scant 3-4 fronds at a time, in very slow growing, and considered difficult in cultivation. I have 2 and can say they are all these things.
They are a very attractive palm, the nicest thing being their striped trunk and petioles. Like most all of the Caryota, they are monocarpic. This means that they grow, bloom once, set seeds, then die. Kind of like a big annual that spans many seasons. Fortunately, this particular species will most likely outlive ME at this point. But many people in climates like South Florida will not plant fishtails like C. mitis, C. urens, and other more common fishtails outside because of this trait. They grow very fast, fruit, scatter seeds that all sprout new palms, then you have to chop a huge palm down, usually with a chainsaw.
C. zebrina would be a good palm for them, except it requires full shade.
