CABBAGE TREE PALM

Tree with solitary stem up to 30 m high, trunk up to 50 cm diameter, marked with annular scars and furrows.

Leaves - 3–4.5 m long, fairly stiff, bright green, shiny, up to 1 m across, fan shaped.

Flowers - panicle 1 m long, arising amongst the leaves, flowers 3–5 mm diameter, cream-white in colour.

Fruit - spherical, 1–1.5 cm diameter, red turning black.

Indigenous uses – been known to use the leaves as roof thatch and for weaving baskets. They also used the fibrous bark to make fishing lines; shallow bag-like nets were made from the bark fibres; palm tip and heart are edible, but harvesting the tip kills the plant because it cannot re-grow from any other point.