Seeds and Things Bamboo Palm 10 Seeds
Do you have a low light area in your home or office that needs some green? Do you want a low-maintenance but graceful-looking palm to show off? Well, it doesn't get any better than Chamaedorea florida, or the Bamboo Palm. The Bamboo Palm, or Reed Palm, is a relatively small, graceful palm that grows to about 7 feet. Usually, when these plants are sold in nurseries, they are clumped with about 20 or 30 individual plants. Each stem is long and slender with "nodes" very similar in appearance to bamboo. Although these plants are commercially clumped together to form shrub-like specimens, this palm naturally spreads by suckers or offshoots that are also similar to bamboo. The stems are tall and have about 10-15 fronds each with about 12 dark green pinnate leaflets. As the old fronds die, these should be trimmed off and the leaf bases, or sheaths, allowed to dry. Later, these should be removed to promote good plant hygiene and expose the attractive light green "bamboo stem." Although the Bamboo Palm is mostly used indoors because it prefers shade, it can withstand higher light and will produce flowers and fruit in these environments. The flowers arise from the leaf sheaths, or coverings, and are colored a dull yellow. The fruits are usually small, orange/red, pea-sized berries.