Kentia palm
Sources last read 14 September 2026.
Middling It gives warning, with time to act.
Also called flat palm, Forster sentry palm, paradise palm, Sentry Palm, Thatch Palm and thatch-leaf palm.
Toxicity is partly unassessed
What the sources say about its care
Sources file this plant under other names: Howea forsterana (Clemson Extension). Citations below point at the name its source uses.
- Light
- Medium light 100–150 fcClemson Extension, filed as Howea forsterana · read 13 September 2026Partial shadeRHS · read 13 September 2026
- Water
- Well-drainedRHS · read 13 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 13 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 13 September 2026- Soil
- Loam; pH Acid or NeutralRHS · read 13 September 2026
- Toxic to cats
- Listed as non-toxicASPCA · read 13 September 2026
- Toxic to dogs
- Listed as non-toxicASPCA · read 13 September 2026
- Harmful to people
- No statement of harm to people is published for this plant; that absence is not evidence it is safe.RHS · read 13 September 2026
How it usually goes wrong
- Dry, curled edges on fronds near a heater
The kentia palm shows browning on many fronds at once, all at the margin, with no spots or soft patches anywhere.
The edges fail first because they are the end of the plumbing. Penn State Extension cites 30% to 60% as the recommended indoor range, and winter heating regularly takes a room under it.
Telling it apart: Whether it crumbles or smears. Crisp is water lost; soft and dark is cold or rot.
Penn State ExtensionDiagnose brown tips and edges on this Kentia palm- Leaves soften and curl inward
The kentia palm loses its stiffness first at the tips of the newest growth, and the whole pot feels light for its size.
Water stored in the fronds is spent first and the tissue creases as it empties. That is the reserve doing its job rather than the plant failing.
Telling it apart: Whether water runs straight through. Compost dried hard sheds water down the sides, which is itself a sign of drought.
RHSDiagnose a soft, mushy stem on this Kentia palm- New fronds are smaller than the old and further apart
Growth on the side of the kentia palm away from the light slows or stops, so the plant becomes lopsided over a few months.
Its source puts it in medium light. Under that, each new frond costs more than it returns, so the plant builds fewer and thinner ones.
Telling it apart: Spacing. A plant short of light stretches; one short of nitrogen keeps its spacing and only loses colour.
Clemson ExtensionDiagnose leggy growth on this Kentia palm
Not sure which it is? Ask the diagnosis questions for Kentia palm.
Routine care
- Watering
- During growth, water moderately, keep humidity moderate and feed monthly with a liquid fertiliser through summer. Give little water in winter.RHS · read 13 September 2026
- Feeding
- Feed with houseplant fertilizer not often; a slow-release, encapsulated product is ideal.NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026While growing, water moderately and keep humidity moderate; in summer, give a liquid fertiliser each month.RHS · read 13 September 2026
- Propagation
- SeedNC State Extension · read 13 September 2026Sow seed at 19°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 mealybugs (including root mealybugs), fern scale, greenhouse thrips and banded greenhouse thrips. Diseases: sooty molds.NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026Can be troubled by scale insects, thrips and glasshouse red spider mite. Diseases: usually none.RHS · read 13 September 2026
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Photographs
About the plant
Howea forsteriana, the Kentia palm, thatch palm or palm court palm, is a species of flowering plant in the palm family, Arecaceae, endemic to Lord Howe Island in Australia. It is also widely grown on Norfolk Island. It is a relatively slow-growing palm, eventually growing up to 10 m (33 ft) tall by 6 m (20 ft) wide. Its fronds can reach 3 m (10 ft) long. The palm gets its common name from the capital of Lord Howe Island, Kentia, and the genus name, Howea, from the island itself. The species name forsteriana is after Johann Reinhold Forster and Georg Forster, father and son, who accompanied Captain Cook as naturalists on his second voyage to the Pacific in 1772–1775. The seeds require six years to mature.
From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · read 13 September 2026
- Native range
- Lord Howe I.World Checklist of Vascular Plants, June 2026 release, CC BY.Kew WCVP · read 13 September 2026Howe Island, between Australia and New ZealandNC State Extension · read 13 September 2026Lord Howe IslandRHS · read 13 September 2026
- Climate
- wet tropicalWorld Checklist of Vascular Plants, June 2026 release, CC BY.Kew WCVP · read 13 September 2026
- Growth form
- Perennial, Tree; habit arching, erectNC State Extension · read 13 September 2026Bushy (evergreen)RHS · read 13 September 2026
- Size
- Height up to 360 in; width 72–120 inNC State Extension · read 13 September 2026Height 8-12 metres; spread 4-8 metres after 20–50 yearsRHS · read 13 September 2026
- Flowering
- Flowers white; blooms in fall, winterNC State Extension · read 13 September 2026Flowers brown in summer; green in summerRHS · read 13 September 2026
- Uses
What sources record people using this plant for. A traditional or medicinal use listed here is a record of use, not advice to eat it or treat anything with it.
Grown in containers or indoors.NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026
More of the Arecaceae family
Areca palmA thin dry rim that crumbles between the fingers
Chusan palmBleached patches on the side facing the glass
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 13 September 2026
- Clemson Extension · read 13 September 2026
- Kew WCVP · read 13 September 2026
- NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026
- Penn State Extension · read 13 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.