Palmera
Dypsis lutescens
Also known as: Areca Palm, Golden Cane Palm, Butterfly Palm, Yellow Palm
The clumping, golden-caned screening palm that PH landscapers sell as 'palmera.' Botanically Dypsis lutescens, native to Madagascar, not the Philippines. It grows as a dense clump of slender yellow canes rather than a single trunk, which is exactly what makes it the default soft screen for subdivisions and resorts. Thornless and pool-safe. ₱800 to ₱2,400 per clump. We show you the actual clumps and confirm cane count before you commit, because 'palmera' is sold at wildly different fullnesses.
Pricing Guide (per clump)
| Size / Spec | Price (PHP) |
|---|---|
| 3-4 ft clump | ₱800 |
| 4-6 ft clump | ₱1,400 |
| 6-8 ft clump | ₱2,400 |
Volume Discounts
- 50+ clumps:Volume pricing on screening runs, quoted per project
Prices are plant material only, per clump. Delivery, soil preparation, and installation are quoted per project based on site access. Larger clumps are sourced to order and carry a lead time. A clump is priced on fullness as much as height: we confirm cane count and clump density before delivery, because a thin 3-cane clump and a full 12-cane clump are both sold as 'palmera' and they do not give you the same screen.
Request Project Quote →About Palmera
In the Philippines, 'palmera' is the everyday trade name for the areca palm, Dypsis lutescens. It is the palm lining subdivision fences, softening blank commercial walls, and filling hotel and resort planters. Unlike single-trunk palms, palmera grows in clumps: multiple slender golden-yellow canes rise from one base, each topped with arching feathery fronds, so a planted row fills in from the ground up with no bare trunks. One honest note on origin. Despite how common it is here, palmera is not a Philippine native. Its native range is eastern Madagascar, where it is listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List even as it has become one of the most widely cultivated palms on earth. It earns its place in PH landscaping on looks and function, not on native-spec grounds.
Common Applications
- Privacy screens and living fences. The default soft screen for subdivisions and resorts. Planted 3-4 ft on-center for a dense wall that closes within a year or two.
- Poolside and amenity planting. Thornless, soft-fronded, and low-hazard around pools, decks, and walkways.
- Wall and edge softening. Breaks up blank concrete walls, party walls, and hard building edges.
- Container and event planting. A rental and staging staple for lobbies, entrances, and events.
- Corner and entrance accents. Smaller clumps hold corners and flank gates where a single-trunk palm would read too stiff.
- Understory and light-shade beds. Tolerates partial shade better than most screening palms, so it works under canopy and against shaded walls.
Where You'll See It
- Subdivision perimeter fences and party walls
- Hotel and resort poolside planting
- Commercial frontages and blank wall screening
- Condominium podium and amenity decks
- Lobby and entrance containers
- Event and staging rentals
Why Architects Choose It
- Clumping habit screens from the ground up, with no bare trunks to hide
- Thornless and soft-fronded, so it is safe against pools, decks, and circulation
- Non-toxic to pets and children
- Adaptable to full sun or partial shade, which is rare among screening palms
- Cheap and fast to source at screening size compared to single-trunk specimens
- Reads soft and tropical where a formal hedge would read hard
Project Types Best Suited
- Subdivision and village perimeter screening
- Hotel and resort landscaping
- Poolside and amenity planting
- Commercial frontage and wall softening
- Condominium buffer planting
- Plant rental and event staging
Specifications
- Botanical name
- Dypsis lutescens (H.Wendl.) Beentje & J.Dransf.
- Accepted name (POWO/Kew)
- Chrysalidocarpus lutescens H.Wendl. Kew now treats Dypsis lutescens as a synonym, though the trade and most horticultural literature still use Dypsis lutescens
- Family
- Arecaceae (palm family)
- PH trade name
- Palmera
- Native range
- Eastern Madagascar
- Status in PH
- Introduced ornamental, not native
- Conservation status
- Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List in its native Madagascar, despite being one of the most widely cultivated palms in the world
- Habit
- Clumping, multi-stemmed palm; slender golden-yellow canes rising from a common base
- Height
- 6-12 m (20-39 ft) untrimmed; commonly held at 2-4 m in landscape use
- Fronds
- Arching, feathery (pinnate), soft, thornless
- Sun
- Adaptable. Full sun brings out the golden canes; partial shade keeps fronds deeper green. Prolonged harsh sun can scorch foliage
- Water
- Prefers consistent moisture. Not a drought palm, so it needs watering through the dry season
- Soil
- Rich, moist, well-drained. Dislikes waterlogged ground
- Salt tolerance
- Moderate. Suits near-coastal sites but is not a front-line beachfront palm
- Toxicity
- Non-toxic. The ASPCA lists this plant as 'Golden Butterfly Palm' (Dypsis lutescens, also Areca Palm, Cane Palm, Golden Feather Palm, Yellow Palm) and records it as non-toxic to both dogs and cats
- Pet safe
- Yes, ASPCA-confirmed. One of the few plants in our catalog with an authority behind the claim, and the only screening palm we can say it about
- Spacing
- 3-4 ft on-center for a screen; tighter with larger clumps for instant coverage
- Pool safe
- Yes. Soft, thornless, manageable litter
Palmera (Areca Palm) Supplier in the Philippines
In the Philippines, “palmera” is the areca palm, botanically Dypsis lutescens. It is the workhorse screening palm of PH landscaping: the one lining subdivision fences, softening blank commercial walls, and filling hotel and resort planters.
The thing that makes it useful is its habit. Palmera is not a single-trunk specimen palm. It grows in dense clumps of slender, golden-yellow canes, each topped with soft arching fronds, so a planted row fills in from the ground up with no bare trunks to hide. It is thornless, non-toxic, and pool-safe.
We supply it at ₱800 to ₱2,400 per clump, and we show you the actual clumps before you commit.
Palmera Is Not a Philippine Native
Worth saying plainly, because a plant this common gets assumed to be local: palmera is not Filipino. Its native range is eastern Madagascar.1
There is a genuine irony in it. In the wild in Madagascar the species is listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List, while in cultivation it has become one of the most widely planted palms on the planet.2 Scarce where it comes from, everywhere else it does not.
You will see nursery listings calling it endangered. That overstates it: the Red List assessment is Near Threatened, a step below the threatened categories. We would rather quote the assessment correctly than borrow drama from it.
So palmera earns its place on looks and function, not on native-spec grounds. If a brief calls for native palms, this is not the plant, and we will say so.
What Palmera Is NOT
Two different confusions come up constantly:
- Not the betel-nut palm (Areca catechu, “bunga”). This one trips people up because of the shared word “areca.” Bunga is a tall, single-trunk palm grown for nut production. Palmera is a soft clumping screen. Same word, unrelated plant in the landscape.
- Not the MacArthur palm (Ptychosperma macarthurii). Both clump, so they get substituted for each other on site. See the comparison below, because the difference is visible once you know where to look.
How to Confirm It by Eye
| Look at | Palmera (Dypsis lutescens) | What it is not |
|---|---|---|
| Canes | Slender, yellow-gold, many per clump | MacArthur canes are green with a distinct crownshaft |
| Fronds | Soft, fine, arching, feathery | MacArthur leaflets are stiffer with blunt, chewed-looking tips |
| Crownshaft | None to speak of | MacArthur has a clean green crownshaft |
| Trunk | No single trunk; fills from the ground | Bunga (Areca catechu) is one tall bare trunk |
General palmera tells: yellow-gold slender canes in a clump, soft feathery fronds, thornless, and coverage that starts at ground level rather than at head height.
Compare directly with the MacArthur palm, the other clumping palm we supply.
Growing Conditions in the Philippines
- Sun: adaptable, which is unusual for a screening palm. Full sun brings out the golden colour in the canes. Partial shade keeps the fronds a deeper green. Prolonged harsh sun on an exposed lot can scorch foliage, so afternoon relief helps.
- Water: this is the demanding part. Palmera prefers consistent moisture and is not strongly drought-tolerant, so it needs watering through the dry season, especially in the first 3-6 months. If you want a plant you can neglect, this is not it.
- Soil: rich, well-draining garden soil. It will not forgive a waterlogged planting hole.
- Salt: moderate tolerance. Fine for near-coastal sites, not a front-line beachfront palm.
- Establishment: plant at the start of the rainy season so the clump settles and pushes new canes before the dry months.3
- Maintenance: low. Cut browned fronds at the base, and thin crowded canes every year or two to keep the clump open.
Buying Palmera: Fullness Beats Height
The single most useful thing to know as a buyer: a palmera clump is priced on fullness, not just height.
“Palmera” is sold at wildly different densities. A thin 3-cane clump and a full 12-cane clump can be the same height, carry the same name, and cost very different amounts, and only one of them will actually screen a fence. A row of thin clumps looks like a mistake for two years.
This is why we confirm cane count and clump density before delivery, and why we would rather show you the plants than sell you a height.
Pricing
Sold per clump, plant material only:
| Size | Price |
|---|---|
| 3-4 ft clump | ₱800 |
| 4-6 ft clump | ₱1,400 |
| 6-8 ft clump | ₱2,400 |
Delivery, soil preparation, and installation are quoted per project based on site access. Larger clumps are sourced to order and carry a lead time.
Care Highlights
- Water: consistent. The one thing palmera genuinely needs.
- Feeding: balanced fertilizer at the start of the rainy season.
- Pruning: remove browned fronds at the base; do not cut into green ones.
- Thinning: open up crowded clumps every year or two so the base does not go bare.
- Pests: watch for spider mites in dry, dusty spells, and scale on stressed plants.
Sources
Footnotes
-
Plants of the World Online (POWO) / World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP), Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Accepted name Chrysalidocarpus lutescens H.Wendl., with Dypsis lutescens (H.Wendl.) Beentje & J.Dransf. listed as a synonym. Native range: eastern Madagascar. Accessed 2026. https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:665962-1 ↩
-
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, global assessment for the species: Near Threatened. Verified via the IUCN Red List distribution record published through GBIF. Accessed 2026. https://www.gbif.org/species/2735935 ↩
-
University of Florida IFAS Extension, “Dypsis lutescens, Areca Palm” (FOR 247/FR309). Native to eastern Madagascar; used as a landscape accent and natural fence; best planted in the rainy season. Accessed 2026. https://ask.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/FR309 ↩
Sourcing & Supply
Origin
Sourced as nursery-grown clumps from Luzon palm growers, from potted sizes up to field-grown screening clumps.
Supplier Relationship
Working relationships with multiple palm nurseries. Large screening runs are coordinated across yards when single-source stock is short, since matched fullness matters more than matched height on a fence line.
Quality Control
We confirm height, clump density, and cane count before delivery, because 'palmera' is sold at wildly different fullnesses. A thin 3-cane clump and a full 12-cane clump carry the same trade name and the same rough height, but they do not give you the same screen. We show you the actual clumps before you commit.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is palmera?
Palmera is the common Filipino trade name for the areca palm, Dypsis lutescens, a clumping palm with slender golden-yellow canes and soft feathery fronds. It is the standard screening and poolside palm in Philippine landscaping, and it is sold internationally as areca palm, golden cane palm, butterfly palm, or yellow palm.
Is palmera the same as areca palm?
Yes, they are the same plant. 'Palmera' is simply the local trade name for Dypsis lutescens. Do not confuse it with the betel-nut palm (Areca catechu, locally 'bunga'), which is a completely different plant, a tall single-trunk palm, despite both carrying the word 'areca.'
Is palmera native to the Philippines?
No. Palmera is native to eastern Madagascar. It has been planted so widely across the tropics that many people assume it is local, but it is an introduced ornamental here. It is also listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List in its native range, which is the odd position of a plant that is scarce in the wild and everywhere in cultivation.
How far apart should I plant palmera for a screen?
Plant clumps about 3-4 ft on-center for a screen that closes within a year or two. For instant coverage, start with larger 6-8 ft clumps at tighter spacing. Because palmera fills from the ground up, spacing matters less than the fullness of each clump: three thin clumps will not screen as well as two full ones.
Is palmera safe near pools and for pets?
Yes on both counts, and the pet answer is confirmed rather than assumed. The fronds are soft and thornless with manageable litter, and the ASPCA lists the plant (as 'Golden Butterfly Palm', Dypsis lutescens) as non-toxic to both dogs and cats. That makes palmera one of the very few screening plants we can put in a pet household without a caveat. Compare Maki, which the ASPCA lists as toxic with severe vomiting and diarrhoea.
How tall does palmera get?
Left untrimmed, clumps can reach 6-12 m (20-39 ft). Most landscape plantings are held at 2-4 m for screening. We supply clumps from 3 ft up to 8 ft.
Does palmera need a lot of water?
More than most palms, yes. It prefers consistent moisture and is not strongly drought-tolerant, so do not let it dry out, especially during establishment and through the dry season. This is the one point where palmera is fussier than the average PH screening plant.
Why do palmera prices vary so much for the same height?
Because you are buying fullness, not just height. A clump is priced on cane count and density as much as on how tall it is. Two 5 ft clumps can differ by half the canes, and only one of them will actually screen. We confirm cane count before delivery for exactly this reason.
