Archontophoenix alexandrae (F.Muell.) H.Wendl. & Drude
Alexander Palm, Alexandra Palm, Picabeen palm, king palm
Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.
Summary
Archontophoenix alexandrae, commonly known as Alexandra palm, king palm, northern Bangalow palm, or feather palm, is a palm endemic to Queensland, Australia. It was named in honour of Princess Alexandra of Denmark, but is often erroneously referred to by the misnomer Alexander palm.
Text from Wikipedia, “Archontophoenix alexandrae”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.
About the genus · Archontophoenix
Archontophoenix is a plant genus comprising six palm species that are native to New South Wales and Queensland in eastern Australia. They are tall, slender and unbranched. Relationships between Archontophoenix and the other genera of subtribe Archontophoenicinae, including the New Caledonia endemic Actinokentia, Chambeyronia and Kentiopsis are unresolved.
Text from Wikipedia, “Archontophoenix”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.
At a glance
Also known as Archontophoenix alexandrae var. beatriceae (F.Muell.) C.T.White; Archontophoenix alexandrae var. beatriceae (F.Muell.) C.T.White ex L.H.Bailey; Archontophoenix alexandrae var. schizanthera H.Wendl. & Drude; Archontophoenix beatriceae (F.Muell.) F.M.Bailey; Jessenia glaziouviana Dammer and 8 more.
Cultivation
Grouped as a tropical foliage plant by Arecaceae, which is usually but not always one kind of plant (archetype table). The table supplies one figure for this group, a conventional minimum for the cold floor, and no prose.
Its year Rain rule: a summer growing season, June to October in the northern hemisphere (December to April at the habitat, southern).
This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.
The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the year's rain (1244 mm of 1743 mm) falls in December to April, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 25.0 °C against a yearly mean of 22.4 °C). Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: June to October.
Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.
Rain Habitat rain 1743 mm a year, wettest February at 367 mm, driest September at 40 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).
This species’ habitat figures, with their source.
1743 mm a year at the habitat, 1244 mm of it December to April. Wettest month February at 367 mm, driest September at 40 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 1088 mm to 3373 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).
CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.
Light Open sky over the habitat: 24 to 42 mol/m²/day.
This species’ habitat figures, with their source.
Open sky over the habitat: 24 to 42 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 20, the highest 90th-percentile month 44).
CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.
Warmth and air Cold floor 12.6 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
This species’ habitat figures, with their source.
Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 12.6 °C, the absolute minimum 8.9 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 31.6 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 14.5 °C in July (across the envelope cells 9.6 °C to 18.6 °C), warmest day 28.2 °C in January (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 12.6 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER); the archetype table's minimum for a tropical foliage plant, 12 °C, is lower and does not raise it.
NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence, and the archetype table's group minimum where that is higher. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.
Relative humidity at the habitat: 61 to 67% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.
CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.
The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.
Climate across the habitat
Figures by month
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day °C | 28 / 27–30 | 28 / 26–29 | 27 / 25–28 | 25 / 23–27 | 23 / 21–25 | 21 / 19–23 | 21 / 18–22 | 22 / 19–23 | 24 / 22–26 | 26 / 24–28 | 27 / 25–29 | 28 / 26–30 |
| Night °C | 23 / 20–25 | 23 / 20–25 | 22 / 19–24 | 21 / 17–23 | 18 / 14–21 | 15 / 11–19 | 15 / 10–19 | 15 / 10–19 | 17 / 13–20 | 20 / 16–22 | 21 / 18–24 | 23 / 19–25 |
| Rain mm | 318 / 109–579 | 367 / 157–595 | 221 / 113–586 | 158 / 93–394 | 109 / 49–242 | 67 / 37–127 | 48 / 29–129 | 43 / 29–88 | 40 / 22–86 | 68 / 39–99 | 124 / 80–187 | 180 / 136–271 |
| DLI | 40 / 37–42 | 36 / 34–38 | 35 / 32–36 | 30 / 27–33 | 25 / 22–28 | 24 / 20–27 | 25 / 22–28 | 30 / 27–32 | 38 / 34–39 | 42 / 38–44 | 42 / 40–44 | 42 / 40–43 |
| RH % | 66 / 61–70 | 67 / 61–71 | 65 / 60–69 | 65 / 60–70 | 64 / 59–69 | 61 / 57–67 | 61 / 55–66 | 61 / 55–65 | 61 / 56–64 | 62 / 58–65 | 63 / 59–66 | 64 / 61–68 |
Each figure is the median across the 216 grid cells holding the 375 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 2252:6610 (-22.625, 150.525). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 8.9 °C, 1st-percentile night 12.6 °C, 99th-percentile day 31.6 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 216 distinct grid cells holding the 375 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2252:6610 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -22.50_150.625, lapse-corrected +33 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 60 m (cell mean).
Natural habitat
Photographs
Photographs: (c) Diogo Luiz, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Kevin Faccenda, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Lucas Christofides, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Will Sides, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) James K. Douch, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA); (c) Greg Tasney, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) (2).
Photographs: iNaturalist and Wikimedia Commons did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.
Papers naming this species
Works whose title or abstract names Archontophoenix alexandrae, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.
Related
Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.
Heptapleurum actinophyllum Australian Umbrella Tree
Drosera adelae Droseraceae
Tabernaemontana pandacaqui Banana Bush
Xanthostemon chrysanthus Golden Penda
Talinella dauphinensis Talinaceae
Catharanthus roseus Billygoat WeedOther Archontophoenix 1 in the reference
History & registers
Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)wcvp.distribution answeredgbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zamclimate answeredwikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skippedinat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skippedinat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)commons not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)gbif.media answeredopenalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skippedEvery upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 44 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.








