Ruffled Fan Palm Licuala grandis

Licuala grandis carries whole circular leaves, pleated like a paper lantern, toothed around the rim, and barely split at the margin, on a single slender trunk that stays modest for many years. That undivided fan is the reason it is one of the most recognisable palms in cultivation, and it comes from the rainforest floor of Vanuatu, where it is endemic. Gardens use it as a close-range specimen: a sheltered entry, a shaded atrium, or understorey planting below taller palms.

The leaf is the plant, and wind destroys it

Grow it in shade to part shade, water moderately with regular attention through summer, and keep the soil moist but freely drained and rich in organic matter. Growth is slow, which is why larger pot sizes are worth having rather than waiting on a small plant. It wants warmth and humidity, so tropical and subtropical gardens suit it outdoors, and elsewhere it is an indoor or glasshouse subject. The failure mode is wind, and it is decisive. An undivided leaf has nothing to let air through, so it acts like a sail and tears along the pleats, and those tears never heal; on a palm this slow you live with each ruined leaf for a very long time. A breezy pool surround, a corner where wind funnels between buildings, or an open courtyard will steadily reduce the crown to ribbons. Plant it in genuinely still air, with walls, canopy or dense planting on the windward side, and midday sun off it as well.

Choosing between the three Licuala

The nearest thing on the shelf is Licuala peltata var. sumawongii, which holds the same undivided form on a larger, glossier, less heavily corrugated blade and needs the same shelter. Take grandis where the space is smaller and you want the tighter, more strongly pleated leaf; take sumawongii where you want one very large leaf as the whole statement. Mangrove fan palm is the practical alternative for anywhere with moving air, since it clumps and its fan is split into segments that shed a breeze instead of tearing. Anyone buying a single leaf as the feature should be honest about the position first, because that decision matters more here than the choice of species. Larger plants are grouped in the semi-advanced range.

Handling and feeding a slow understorey palm

There is very little to cut. Remove a leaf only when it has died off completely, taking the stalk close to the trunk, and wear gloves because the stalk edges carry teeth. Do it in warm weather. Never trim a torn leaf into a tidy shape; the cut edges brown and the leaf looks worse than it did. Feed lightly with a controlled release palm fertiliser in early spring and again in mid summer, at half rate in pots, and stop over the cool months. Keep a deep organic mulch over the root zone, and indoors sponge the fans occasionally to clear dust and to catch spider mite before it takes hold.

Choosing a size

This plant is available in 5 sizes, from 250mm up to 90L, priced from $99.95 to $549.00 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.