Livistona chinensis Seeds | Chinese Fan Palm
LATIN NAME: Livistona chinensis
COMMON NAME: Chinese Fan Palm
Plant Profile
Known to gardeners as Chinese Fan Palm, Livistona chinensis is a palm in the palm family, native to China. Chinese fan palm is a bold, handsome, fan-leaved palm of warm gardens, and its great, round, fan-shaped leaves have been a familiar of warm world for a very long time. Palm is a fine, generous, easy plant for warm garden, large pot and sheltered courtyard. It is a plant of warm, moist, well-drained ground. It is the sort of plant that quietly justifies the space it occupies.
Science & Biotechnology
As part of the palm family, Livistona chinensis contributes to research on plant classification and adaptation, while nurseries and gardeners continue to trial it for cultivation. Chinese fan palm has a steady and growing place in plant science, and it has been studied for its bold, fan-shaped leaves and its place among palms of warm world. For practical purposes the message is encouraging: generations of cultivation have produced plants of predictable, well-mannered garden character.
Uses & Benefits
Chinese Fan Palm works well in borders, containers and dedicated beds. Chinese fan palm is grown for bold, fan-shaped leaves. Great, round, grey-green fans are a fine, dramatic addition to warm garden, large pot and sheltered courtyard, and palm is a dependable, easy grower. Small, cream flowers and blue-green, oval fruits are a fine food for birds of warm garden, and long, fibrous leaf bases have their traditional uses in the region. Given the right start, it carries on with minimal intervention.
Fan palms of this genus are graceful ornamentals; the young palm hearts and fruits had traditional uses in their native regions.
Growing from Seed
Starting Chinese Fan Palm from seed is simple and satisfying. Use a loose, well-drained seed compost, sow evenly over the surface and cover lightly, and keep everything evenly moist in bright light. Shift the seedlings into small pots as soon as they can be handled, and give them bright light until planting-out time.
Our Take
Native to china, it is naturally at home where garden conditions resemble its wild habitat. Keep the sowing evenly moist at the start — that is the one real requirement.
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