By Hans Van Veluwen

A drive to the Daintree National Park and the Kuranda rainforests will reward one with glimpses of arguably the most beautiful of Australia's palms in flower, the majestic looking fan palm (Licuala ramsayi (syn. L. muelleri)). Licuala pronounced, lik-oo-AH-lah.

Synonymous with the Daintree rainforest regions, this freestanding palm can form the dominant vegetation species in some sections of the park, especially in lowland swampy areas. The flowers are small and cream in colour and the profuse inflorescence droop down out of the palms crown area. The fruits themselves are a bright red in colour and an important food source for the endangered cassowaries.

Solitary and self cleaning these palms reach maximum trunk diameter before starting its upwards growth, making it a very slow growing species. At the frond base is a hessian like mat which sometimes accumulate till the mass of mats become so heavy they slide down the trunk. The material is is made of woven fibre strands and is used in baskets as a liner for hanging plants arrangements especially attractive in woven rattan cane baskets.

The fronds were an important material to the rainforest aboriginals who used it for thatching the roofs of there shelters. The fronds are nearly perfectly circular and can reach diameters of up to two metres and they can form the most attractive almost surreal canopies where they are numerous.The plant grows best in shady conditions and is a well know garden landscaping plant as well as an attractive potted plant.

In their natural habitat can reach heights of twenty meters but in cultivation is somewhat smaller. It is endemic to the Wet Tropical Rainforest of North Queensland and until recently was the only native Licuala species in Australia but another sub species has now been identified in the more remote pockets of tropical rainforests of Cape York Peninsular, Licuala ramsayi var.tuckeri. It was first described and named by a botanist called Ferdinand von Mueller in the late 1800's. Indeed a lot of tropical plant species still bear his name.

During my drives through the countryside a frequent question visitors ask about is the name of another spectacular fan palm species grown as a landscaping plant and that is the identity of the very large silver fronded palms. In most cases they are enquiring about the Bismark Palm ( Bismarkia nobilis ) which is an exotic that originates in Madagascar. Not all the palms you see used as landscaping palms are native, indeed most are exotics introduced to this country for landscaping purposes.

About Hans Van Veluwen

Hans Van Veluwen is a Wilderness Guide who has been conducting trekking expeditions and Guided Tours/ Safaris in Far North Queensland for 31 years. A horticulturist who found out 30 years ago that it was a lot easier talking about plants for a living than physically growing them. He is Queensland's leading Stereophotographer, who has published 3D books about this wonderful part of the world.

Nowadays freelancing for various reputable tour companies as well as offering private guiding services to those people that want to know all about the ecology and history of the area, presented in a way people can understand and appreciate. He specialises in Rainforest Ecology Interpretation tours and also conducts photography tours for those people that want more than a normal scheduled trip. For more details visit www.C3D.net.au