Taraw palm

Description

Livistona saribus, also known as taraw palm in English, is a species of palm tree found in tropical Southeast Asia. Livistona saribus produces blue fruits, and is cold hardy to twenty-four degrees Celsius. It has spines along the leaf stems which resemble shark teeth. It usually grows to 12–18 metres (39–59 ft) in height, exceptionally to 30.5 metres (100 ft). It has a native distribution stretching through Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, Borneo, Java and the Philippines. It is also reportedly naturalized in the Society Islands of French Polynesia and also in the Guangdong and Yunnan regions of China. It is widespread throughout Malaysia, but is rare in western Peninsular Malaysia, being found only in scattered localities on low hills. In the east, however, it forms extensive forests on the coastal hills in the state of Trengganu, and inland in the state of Pahang, as far south as to the Johore border.