Borassodendron machadonis

Borassodendron machadonis is a solitary fan palm from the lowland rainforests of peninsular Malaysia and southern Thailand, rare enough in cultivation here that most Australian nurseries have never handled it. A clean single trunk carries a crown of large glossy fronds split deep into stiff hanging segments, closer in effect to a Licuala than to the common Livistona. The edges of the leaf stalk are sharp enough to cut. It is grown as a collector specimen and as a feature where an unfamiliar leaf shape is the whole point.

A tropical palm with a narrow comfort zone

This is a plant for genuinely tropical and warm subtropical gardens. It comes from equatorial forest with no dry season and no cold, and it carries none of the hardiness of the palms usually sold for Australian streets. Frost will kill it outright, and a long cold wet winter will do the same more slowly by rotting the roots. Give it a rich, open, free-draining mix with organic matter worked through, and a position out of hot wind, because those large segmented fronds tear and brown along the edges once they are whipped about. Humidity helps, so a courtyard with planting around it holds a better microclimate than an open lawn. The second thing to plan for is the petiole. The margins of the leaf stalk are genuinely razor sharp, a known hazard across this genus, so keep the palm back from paths, seating and anywhere children play, and wear gloves whenever you remove a frond. Site it where the crown can be seen but not brushed against.

Set against the other fan palm here

Florida thatch palm is the other fan palm in this group and the two are not interchangeable. Thatch palm is a Caribbean coastal species built for salt and wind, with a slim pale trunk and a tidy compact crown. Borassodendron is a forest plant that wants shelter, humidity and warmth, and rewards it with a far larger and more dramatic leaf. Take the thatch palm for a beachfront courtyard or pool surround; take this one for a protected tropical garden with shelter overhead and a collector eye behind it. Neither is a plant to buy small if you want an effect any time soon. Larger specimens sit in mature trees.

Handling the fronds safely

Prune only to remove fronds that have gone fully brown, cutting close to the trunk in the warm months when the wound closes fastest, and always with gloves and long sleeves because of those leaf stalk margins. Never strip green fronds to tidy the crown: this palm draws heavily on its own foliage and a stripped crown sets it back for a full season. Feed through spring and summer with a slow-release palm fertiliser that includes magnesium and potassium, spread over the root zone and topped with an organic mulch kept off the trunk, then stop as temperatures drop. Check the crown for scale and mealybug, which shelter among the leaf bases in still humid positions.

Choosing a size

This plant is available in 3 sizes, from 300mm up to 110L, priced from $139.00 to $889.00 per plant. The size shown is the pot the plant arrives in, which is the rootball, not the height of the plant. Every size here is established stock rather than a starter plant, so this line is intended for immediate effect rather than for growing on. Not sure which to choose? Read our guide to when to plant in Australia.