Species
+

Caryota urens L.

Fishtail Palm, Jaggery Palm, Toddy Palm, Wine Palm

Climate known 61 photographs Tropical foliage plant
Add one to my plants Sow seed

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

Caryota urens is a species of flowering plant in the palm family, native to Sri Lanka, India, Myanmar and Malaysia, where they grow in fields and rainforest clearings, it is regarded as introduced in Cambodia. The epithet urens is Latin for "stinging" alluding to the chemicals in the fruit. Common names in English include solitary fishtail palm, kithul palm, toddy palm, wine palm, sago palm and jaggery palm. Its leaf is used as fishing rod after trimming the branches of the leaf and drying. More on Wikipedia ›

The opening of Wikipedia, “Caryota urens”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Caryota

Caryota is a genus of palm trees. They are often known as fishtail palms because of the shape of their leaves.

Text from Wikipedia, “Caryota”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Arecaceae
Described by
L.
Native to
India, Sri Lanka
Wild records
509 in range· 430 open

At a glance

Warmest month
32°C
Apr, mean day; nights 24 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
2405mm/yr
10 wet months · peak Jun 519 mm (CHELSA)
Light
26–41DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Grouped as a tropical foliage plant by the genus Caryota, which is reliably one kind of plant (archetype table). Rain rule: a sharp rainy season, June to October at the habitat (not shifted); the temperature curve is flat (3.4 °C of range), so no growing season is inferred. Habitat rain 2405 mm a year, wettest June at 519 mm, driest January at 11 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 26 to 41 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 17.3 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Cultivation

Grouped as a tropical foliage plant by the genus Caryota, which is reliably 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 sharp rainy season, June to October at the habitat (not shifted); the temperature curve is flat (3.4 °C of range), so no growing season is inferred.

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a sharp season: 70% of the year's rain (1935 mm of 2405 mm) falls in June to October. The temperature curve is flat, 3.4 °C between the warmest and coldest month, so the growing-season rule does not infer a growing season from it. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere, within 10° of the equator; with no thermal season there there is no season to reverse, so they are not shifted for a collection elsewhere.

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 2405 mm a year, wettest June at 519 mm, driest January at 11 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

2405 mm a year at the habitat, 1935 mm of it June to October. Wettest month June at 519 mm, driest January at 11 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 895 mm to 4106 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern 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: 26 to 41 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 26 to 41 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 21, the highest 90th-percentile month 46).

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 17.3 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 17.3 °C, the absolute minimum 14.0 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 38.5 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 20.3 °C in January (across the envelope cells 13.8 °C to 23.2 °C), warmest day 32.2 °C in April (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 17.3 °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.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 57 to 70% 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

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 27 °C in Aug to 32 °C in Apr; mean night from 20 °C in Jan to 25 °C in May. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 2405 mm of rain a year, most in Jun. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 264 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 14.0 °C and the 99th-percentile day 38.5 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.10°15°20°25°30°35°40°38.5° 99th-percentile day (undated)14.0° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter050010001500mm rainDLI 26–41RH 57–70 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 264 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C29 / 25–3230 / 27–3432 / 29–3532 / 29–3631 / 28–3728 / 26–3327 / 24–3227 / 24–3128 / 26–3129 / 26–3129 / 25–3029 / 25–31
Night °C20 / 14–2321 / 15–2423 / 17–2524 / 20–2625 / 21–2724 / 20–2723 / 20–2623 / 19–2523 / 19–2523 / 18–2522 / 17–2421 / 14–23
Rain mm11 / 2–3312 / 1–4227 / 3–9381 / 7–208186 / 27–288519 / 68–990503 / 97–1204359 / 124–815283 / 132–401271 / 83–397126 / 15–29727 / 5–127
DLI36 / 31–3740 / 36–4141 / 40–4440 / 37–4636 / 32–4427 / 23–3626 / 21–3328 / 22–3431 / 27–3631 / 29–3430 / 28–3333 / 28–34
RH %57 / 50–6157 / 48–6259 / 48–6263 / 50–6765 / 55–6970 / 57–7870 / 61–7970 / 63–7868 / 62–7567 / 58–7064 / 52–6860 / 50–64

Each figure is the median across the 264 grid cells holding the 500 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 1640:5215 (7.975, 80.775). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 14.0 °C, 1st-percentile night 17.3 °C, 99th-percentile day 38.5 °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 264 distinct grid cells holding the 500 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1640:5215 (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 8.00_80.625, lapse-corrected +72 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 193 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeIndia, Sri Lanka· introduced: China South-Central, China Southeast, Ogasawara-shoto, Assam, Bangladesh, Nepal, Andaman Is., Myanmar, Malaya, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Puerto Rico, Trinidad-Tobago
Kew's description“tree” · “wet tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker9.301, 76.585 · in the densest population, 264 records (52% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 509 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 430 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 3 km away. 101 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 9 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 509 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Caryota urensCaryota urensCaryota urensCaryota urensCaryota urensCaryota urensCaryota urensCaryota urens

Photographs: (c) Oleg Kosterin, some rights reserved (CC BY) (7); (c) renjus box, some rights reserved (CC BY).

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 Caryota urens, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Mechanical, thermal and fatigue behaviour of surface-treated novel Caryota urens fibre–reinforced epoxy composite
V. R. Arun Prakash, J. Francis Xavier, G. Ramesh, Thirupathy Maridurai (2020) · Biomass Conversion and Biorefinery
Mechanical, dielectric, and hydrophobicity behavior of coconut shell biochar toughened Caryota urens natural fiber reinforced epoxy composite
D. Jayabalakrishnan, P. Prabhu, Mohamed Iqbal Shajahan, V. Mugendiran (2021) · Polymer Composites
Review on Recent Advances in Value Addition of Jaggery based Products
Debashis Dutta (2015) · Journal of Food Processing & Technology
Impact of γ − irradiation on the physico-chemical, rheological properties and in vitro digestibility of kithul (Caryota urens) starch; a new source of nonconventional stem starch
Cherakkathodi Sudheesh, Kappat Valiyapeediyekkal Sunooj, Johnsy George, Sunny Kumar (2019) · Radiation Physics and Chemistry
Removal of lead (II) from wastewater using active carbon of Caryota urens seeds and its embedded calcium alginate beads as adsorbents
Sujitha Ravulapalli, K. Ravindhranath (2018) · Journal of environmental chemical engineering
Strength characterization of caryota urens fibre and aluminium 2024-T3 foil multi-stacking sequenced SiC-toughened epoxy structural composite
V. Antony Vincent, C. Kailasanathan, V. K. Shanmuganathan, K. Sivakumar (2020) · Biomass Conversion and Biorefinery
Kithul palm (Caryota urens) as a new source of starch: Effect of single, dual chemical modifications and annealing on the physicochemical properties and in vitro digestibility
Cherakkathodi Sudheesh, Kappat Valiyapeediyekkal Sunooj, Johnsy George (2018) · International Journal of Biological Macromolecules
Physico-chemical, morphological, pasting and thermal properties of stem flour and starch isolated from kithul palm (Caryota urens) grown in valley of Western Ghats of India
Cherakkathodi Sudheesh, Kappat Valiyapeediyekkal Sunooj, Johnsy George, Sunny Kumar (2019) · Journal of Food Measurement & Characterization
Nature is Culture
(1997) · Practical Action Publishing eBooks

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.

Other Caryota 2 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 answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata 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: skipped
inat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.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 answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 59 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.