Palm Garden

 

Palmae

The family Palmae comprises about 220 genera and more than 3 000 species.  Plants in this family are distributed in tropical and subtropical regions.  They are mainly evergreen trees or shrubs, but may also be vines.  Their fronds are pinnately or palmately compound, with the base of the petiole usually expanded to form a fibrous sheath.  The plants, which are monoecious or dioecious, have small fasciculate flowers that may be unisexual or bisexual.  The fruits are either drupes or berries.  Many palms such as coconut palms (Cocos nucifera), date palms (Phoenix dactylifera) and oil palms (Elaeis guineensis) are of economic value.

The Palm Garden in Morse Park (Park No. 2) covers an area of 0.2 hectares. By mid-1991, the Garden had a collection of some 80 palms of 22 species, which were mainly from South East Asia, China and Taiwan etc.

In the Garden, there are relatively uncommon species such as Hyophorbe lagenicaulis, Neodypsis decaryi, Hyophorbe verschaffeltii, Areca catechu, Livistona australis, Phoenix loureiroi, Syagrus romanzoffiana, Howea forsteriana, Caryota rumphiana, Arenga engleri, Pinanga sinii etc, as well as the common ones like Chrysalidocarpus lutescens, Caryota ochlandra, Phoenix roebelenii, Livistona chinensis, Washingtonia robusta, Rhapis excelsa, Trachycarpus fortunei, Roystonea regia, Archontophoenix alexandrae and Cocos nucifera etc.