Areca palm
Sources last read 14 September 2026.
Middling It gives warning, with time to act.
Also called Bamboo Palm, butterfly palm, cane palm, Golden Butterfly Palm, Golden Cane Palm, golden yellow palm, golden-feather palm, Madagascar palm, or Butterfly Palm, yellow butterfly palm and yellow palm.
Toxicity is partly unassessed
What the sources say about its care
Sources file this plant under other names: Chrysalidocarpus Lutescens (RHS). Citations below point at the name its source uses.
- Light
- Partial shadeRHS · read 11 September 2026
- Water
- Well-drainedRHS · read 11 September 2026
- Humidity
No source read publishes a humidity figure for any plant on this site. What follows is general guidance for foliage plants.
ASHRAE recommends indoor relative humidity between 30% and 60% 30–60%Penn State Extension · read 11 September 2026- Temperature
How cold this tolerates, not what it prefers. No source read for this site publishes a preferred range for a plant indoors.
H1A — warmer than 15°C 15 °CRHS · read 11 September 2026- Soil
- Loam; pH Acid or NeutralRHS · read 11 September 2026
- Toxic to cats
- Listed as non-toxicASPCA · read 11 September 2026
- Toxic to dogs
- Listed as non-toxicASPCA · read 11 September 2026
- Harmful to people
- No harm statement is published for this plant; that absence is not evidence it is safe.RHS · read 11 September 2026
How it usually goes wrong
- A thin dry rim that crumbles between the fingers
The areca palm browns at the very tips first, and the brown line creeps back along the edges over weeks. The tissue is dry and brittle, not soft.
Penn State Extension notes that most indoor plants benefit from more humidity than a home heated in winter provides. The leaf edge, furthest from the veins, is where the shortfall shows.
Telling it apart: Whether the soil is dry too. Crisp edges with damp soil point at the air; with dry soil, at the watering.
Penn State ExtensionAreca palm leggy, leaning growth: causes- Fronds lose their firmness and recover after water
The areca palm hangs evenly all over, and the compost has gone pale and hard. Nothing is spotted or rotten; the plant is simply short of water.
Its source describes well-drained soil. A pot left dry past that point cannot supply the plant, and wilting is the fastest visible response.
Telling it apart: Lift the pot. A plant that is light and sagging is thirsty; one that is heavy and sagging is not.
RHSDiagnose drooping on this Areca palm- Growth slows and what does arrive is thin
The newest fronds on the areca palm are the palest and smallest, and the stems carrying them bend toward the brightest side of the room.
A plant stretches when the light is short of what it evolved for. Its source describes partial shade, and a room darker than that sets the plant reaching.
Telling it apart: Whether it leans. A plant reaching for a window is answering a light question, and it leans before it pales.
RHSAreca palm leggy, leaning growth: causes
Not sure which it is? Ask the diagnosis questions for Areca palm.
Routine care
- Watering
- During growth, water generously and feed 2 or 3 times over the growing season with a balanced liquid fertiliser. Give little water in winter.RHS · read 13 September 2026
- Feeding
- While growing, water generously, and feed two or three times over the growing season with a balanced liquid fertiliser.RHS · read 13 September 2026
- Repotting
- Give it a new pot every 2 or 3 years.NC State Extension, filed as Chrysalidocarpus lutescens · read 13 September 2026
- Propagation
- By division or seed.NC State Extension, filed as Chrysalidocarpus lutescens · read 13 September 2026Sow seed at 25°C or warmer.RHS · read 13 September 2026
- Pruning
- Pruning is not needed.RHS · read 13 September 2026
- Pests and diseases
- Can be troubled by whiteflies, soft scale, fern scale, banded greenhouse thrips, greenhouse thrips and root mealybugs.NC State Extension, filed as Chrysalidocarpus lutescens · read 13 September 2026Can be troubled by scale insects, thrips, mealybugs and red spider mite. Diseases: usually none.RHS · read 13 September 2026
Move something and watch
Loading the simulator. It needs JavaScript; the care table above does not.
Photographs
About the plant
Chrysalidocarpus lutescens, also known by its synonym Dypsis lutescens and as golden cane palm, areca palm, yellow palm, butterfly palm, or bamboo palm, is a species of flowering plant in the family Arecaceae, native to Madagascar and naturalized in the Andaman Islands, Thailand, Vietnam, Réunion, El Salvador, Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Canary Islands, southern Florida, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, the Leeward Islands, and the Leeward Antilles. Its native names are rehazo and lafahazo.
From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · read 13 September 2026
- Native range
- E. MadagascarWorld Checklist of Vascular Plants, June 2026 release, CC BY.Kew WCVP, filed as Chrysalidocarpus lutescens · read 13 September 2026MadagascarNC State Extension, filed as Chrysalidocarpus lutescens · read 13 September 2026MadagascarRHS · read 13 September 2026
- Climate
- wet tropicalWorld Checklist of Vascular Plants, June 2026 release, CC BY.Kew WCVP, filed as Chrysalidocarpus lutescens · read 13 September 2026
- Growth form
- shrub or treeWorld Checklist of Vascular Plants, June 2026 release, CC BY.Kew WCVP, filed as Chrysalidocarpus lutescens · read 13 September 2026Perennial, Shrub, Tree; habit arching, erectNC State Extension, filed as Chrysalidocarpus lutescens · read 13 September 2026Bushy (evergreen)RHS · read 13 September 2026
- Size
- Height 120–360 in; width 96–180 inNC State Extension, filed as Chrysalidocarpus lutescens · read 13 September 2026Height 4-8 metres; spread 2.5-4 metres after 20–50 yearsRHS · read 13 September 2026
- Flowering
- Flowers gold/yellow; blooms in summerNC State Extension, filed as Chrysalidocarpus lutescens · read 13 September 2026Flowers yellow in summerRHS · read 13 September 2026
Common problems with Areca palm
More of the Arecaceae family
Chusan palmBleached patches on the side facing the glass
Kentia palmDry, curled edges on fronds near a heater
Lady palmA thin dry rim that crumbles between the fingers
Parlour palmCrisp margins that appear in winter
Pygmy date palmA thin dry rim that crumbles between the fingers
Bamboo PalmSourced care, difficulty not yet judged
Plants with similar care
Sources
- ASPCA · read 11 September 2026
- Kew WCVP · read 13 September 2026
- NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026
- Penn State Extension · read 11 September 2026
- RHS · read 13 September 2026
- Wikipedia · read 13 September 2026
What this does not cover
The figures above are what published sources say, not measurements of the plant in your room. They say nothing about your pot size, your water, the season, or how far from the glass the plant stands, and those decide more than any figure here does.
Humidity has no species figure because no source read for this site publishes one, and the only temperature published for this plant is a cold floor. The simulator fills those gaps with general figures for its kind of plant, marked as general and listed on how we read sources. Where a toxicity row says the plant was not assessed, that is the absence of a finding and not a finding of safety.
If something is already wrong, the diagnosis tool asks about the soil, the window and the watering, which is where the answer usually is.