Hyophorbe indica, show us yours.

[Steve Mac]

After a recent unexpected interest shown the species I have taken a few pics of our two, and for the benefit of those unfamiliar with the Hyophorbe indica.

They are about 7 years old, the bigger one was put in a bit latter than the one under the Syzygium (Lilly Pilly), and was much smaller at the time.

But it was not crowded or shaded, also it is the 'red form'. Apparently this more noticeable reddishness on the trunk is only noticeable when the plant is young.

We can't see any difference now.  Except that the 'red form' is more vigorous but it is positioned better too.  Mind you the first one was not shaded and crowded initially.

That native Syzygium was put in years after the first Hyophorbe and was not supposed to get that big, but it sprinted past the palm into the sun.

Now tell us your Hyo stories.

 

 

    

[Daryl]

Nice plant Steve!  I had several growing in my last garden...very fast to establish from seed. They are surprisingly drought tolerant...one feature, as demonstrated in your photos, is the very chunky roots. Mine had roots about the diameter of a 20c coin. Unfortunately I lost one to Cane Beetle borer a few years ago. Another one I had, was a crazy fruiting tree that always had seeds on it...big lumpy, shiny orange fruit. This tree lost its entire crown after a massive limb from a spotted gum fell on it from 25m above. Sheared every leaf off except the spear...a lucky palm for sure! Here is what it looked like after it had recovered, and before i sold up...

 

 

[cfkingfish]

These seem to grow much better in Australia than over here - most wither and die, most likely they want more shade than most people can give them. Excellent specimens!

[Josh-O]

I have mine growing in full sun in sunny southern California in my south facing front yard and it seems to be doing very well. It has burned on the occasional heat wave but quickly grows out of it. Its been flowering for many years

 

[mike in kurtistown]

I like to respond when anyone says "show us yours" and mine has been growing really well. 5-gal orange bucket for scale. Full sun location, subject to observation that east Hawaii Island is a high humidity, often cloudy and rainy location (observe sky in photos). Planted out from 2-gal pots in August 2012. First, the trio by my shadehouse:

Here is a closeup of the middle one. Are these producing seeds or what?

[Steve Mac]

I am surprised at how much they vary in their different environments.

I would not have identified yours Daryl, I did not realize that they grew so tall.

[palmtreesforpleasure]

Hi Steve,

Have both forms and they have kept the colour difference so far.

Both have produced viable seed.

The toughest of all the Hyphorbes...take cooler temperatures...do not appear to like the tropics As much as warm temp/sub tropical climate.

Mine have been fruiting for a few years now.

Difficult to photograph mine

Regards

Colin

 

[doranakandawatta]

do not appear to like the tropics As much as warm temp/sub tropical climate...

Colin, 

Do you think tropical climate is too hot for this species?  Is there a difference with Hyophorbe verschaffelti or lagenicaulis ?

Maybe it explains why I lost the seedlings.
Besides, I think they don't like shady situations, even when young, isn't it ?

[Sir Oxylon]

I have an indica that has put on at least 2 feet of trunk growth in a year in my glasshouse that stays above 18 degrees and usually gets to low 30's during the day with high humidity. So I definitely wouldn't hesitate in trying to grow these in the tropics. I hope to plant it out when it hits the roof which I think will be next summer.

[Silas_Sancona]

Bump..   So share some updates..

[Tracy]

My pair look a little abused probably because they are.  Rings tighten from about the time I stopped caring for them when I moved out and my landscape maintenance took over with the garden.  I did experience a lot of browning leaf tips.  They get no full sun in winter when the arc of the sun is low and the neighbor's house blocks the sun, to full mid-day sun in summer when the arc is overhead.  They were fast growers when young and I lived in the house, but seem to have slowed greatly since then.  Unlike Josh's which is another part of Carlsbad, mine never have produced fruit.  Mine typically only hold about 4 fronds.  If it did hold more the oldest was almost completely fried.  My landscapers have been pretty aggressive with removing fronds that show brown tipping which is part of the problem, but I'm rarely there to tell them not to cut them off.  This shot is from July 2019.

[joe_OC]

Here is mine after today’s rain:

[Billeb]

……and over 5yrs of a stalled thread, I’m going to bring it back to life! Let’s see your H. Indica out there. 
 

Mine has been a rocket! Pictures are not even 3yrs apart. Planted out at the end of 2022 as a Floribunda 1G H Indica Red variety. 
 

It grows amazingly fast but only keeps 3 leaves before the oldest looks terrible. Admittedly it’s too close to the rock edging but oh well. 
 

-dale 

[rizla023]

On 8/9/2025 at 8:32 PM, Billeb said:

……and over 5yrs of a stalled thread, I’m going to bring it back to life! Let’s see your H. Indica out there. 
 

Mine has been a rocket! Pictures are not even 3yrs apart. Planted out at the end of 2022 as a Floribunda 1G H Indica Red variety. 
 

It grows amazingly fast but only keeps 3 leaves before the oldest looks terrible. Admittedly it’s too close to the rock edging but oh well. 
 

-dale 

Is yours in full sun!? Looks amazing @Billeb

[Billeb]

1 hour ago, rizla023 said:

Is yours in full sun!? Looks amazing @Billeb

Literally 100% in the sun, completely unprotected. The new leaves look perfect but as I said, it can’t hold more than 3. I’d hate to cut it down but I’ve contemplated cuz the placement isn’t the best. I talk myself out of it regularly. 
 

-dale 

[Jonathan]

5 hours ago, Billeb said:

I’d hate to cut it down but I’ve contemplated cuz the placement isn’t the best. I talk myself out of it regularly. 

I'd like to talk you out of it as well...

[Tracy]

7 hours ago, Billeb said:

Literally 100% in the sun, completely unprotected. The new leaves look perfect but as I said, it can’t hold more than 3. I’d hate to cut it down but I’ve contemplated cuz the placement isn’t the best. I talk myself out of it regularly. 
 

-dale 

Dale, I too have the same experience with them only holding about 3 leaves.  I have a pair growing in Carlsbad that are in only part day sun and filtered afternoon sun at best.  It doesn't appear that it is the sun that fries them, but possibly they aren't a fan of our dry weather.  I say that even though both yours and mine are growing in marine layer influenced coastal zones of California, so not nearly as dry as further inland especially during our Santa Ana conditions.  I'll have to get photos of them next time I am at the Carlsbad rental.

[Rob123]

Here’s mine, a little over 4 years in the ground from a tiny 5 gallon. Gets all day sun and like others said, maybe 3-4 good leaves. The tip of the tallest leaf is getting close to 15 feet from the ground and 10+ rings of trunk. Definitely my fastest palm in my garden. 

[kylecawazafla]

The rings on that trunk are so uniform! Beautiful palm! 

[tim_brissy_13]

I’ve got one in the ground. It’s story starts less than 4 years ago when it germinated as a red coloured one from a batch of green. Planted less than 3 years ago it’s now over 3m/10’ tall to the top of the tallest frond. Initially I didn’t even expect it to survive here but it doesn’t seem to get more than minor cosmetic damage even down to -1.5C/29F even with fronds now exposed to the sky. Getting to big to fit in one photo. Amazing palm. Seed from @palmtreesforpleasure  

[Jonathan]

4 hours ago, tim_brissy_13 said:

I’ve got one in the ground. It’s story starts less than 4 years ago when it germinated as a red coloured one from a batch of green. Planted less than 3 years ago it’s now over 3m/10’ tall to the top of the tallest frond. Initially I didn’t even expect it to survive here but it doesn’t seem to get more than minor cosmetic damage even down to -1.5C/29F even with fronds now exposed to the sky. Getting to big to fit in one photo. Amazing palm. Seed from @palmtreesforpleasure  

Good stuff Tim, looks super happy, and should get plenty of shelter as the garden grows up around it hopefully.

[tim_brissy_13]

1 hour ago, Jonathan said:

Good stuff Tim, looks super happy, and should get plenty of shelter as the garden grows up around it hopefully.

Only problem is it’s by far outpacing anything near it. It’s overtaken a Chambeyronia oliviformis that must now be 15 years old and is nearly up to a Chambey macrocarpa and Cyphophoenix elegans that were planted as they were about to produce clean trunk 5 years ago. I think as it gains size it might slow down vertical growth but hopefully will be harder enough for the worst of our winters anyway. Time will tell but I’d love to get seed from this one day. 

[Jonathan]

7 hours ago, tim_brissy_13 said:

Only problem is it’s by far outpacing anything near it. It’s overtaken a Chambeyronia oliviformis that must now be 15 years old and is nearly up to a Chambey macrocarpa and Cyphophoenix elegans that were planted as they were about to produce clean trunk 5 years ago. I think as it gains size it might slow down vertical growth but hopefully will be harder enough for the worst of our winters anyway. Time will tell but I’d love to get seed from this one day. 

Also keep in mind that the temperature a few metres up is usually a bit warmer than at ground level. The trade off is wind chill once it clears the roof line I guess.

[Tracy]

On 2/9/2020 at 11:06 AM, Tracy said:

My pair look a little abused probably because they are.  Rings tighten from about the time I stopped caring for them when I moved out and my landscape maintenance took over with the garden.  I did experience a lot of browning leaf tips.  They get no full sun in winter when the arc of the sun is low and the neighbor's house blocks the sun, to full mid-day sun in summer when the arc is overhead.  They were fast growers when young and I lived in the house, but seem to have slowed greatly since then.  Unlike Josh's which is another part of Carlsbad, mine never have produced fruit.  Mine typically only hold about 4 fronds.  If it did hold more the oldest was almost completely fried.  My landscapers have been pretty aggressive with removing fronds that show brown tipping which is part of the problem, but I'm rarely there to tell them not to cut them off.  This shot is from July 2019.

I took an update photo of my pair of Hyophorbe indica today. The prior photo was from 2019.

[Cindy Adair]

This is a pretty and fast growing palm for me. However one of my original trio was killed by ox rhino beetles and the other two damaged severely. With some imidocloprid help they are growing out of their deformities. 

First the stronger one:

Next the one with long odds for survival as it lost lots of roots and fell down and lost its spear and had to regrow from the side. You can see I have left the rope support as we are in hurricane season and it could fall again with wind or lots of rain. 

I almost gave up on this one as it was quite the ugly duckling for a year. 

 

[happypalms]

On 8/31/2025 at 5:15 PM, tim_brissy_13 said:

I’ve got one in the ground. It’s story starts less than 4 years ago when it germinated as a red coloured one from a batch of green. Planted less than 3 years ago it’s now over 3m/10’ tall to the top of the tallest frond. Initially I didn’t even expect it to survive here but it doesn’t seem to get more than minor cosmetic damage even down to -1.5C/29F even with fronds now exposed to the sky. Getting to big to fit in one photo. Amazing palm. Seed from @palmtreesforpleasure  

Nice seedlings Tim, I see you have changed your media and it looks a lot better, a warmer mix for the cooler areas.

[tim_brissy_13]

1 hour ago, happypalms said:

Nice seedlings Tim, I see you have changed your media and it looks a lot better, a warmer mix for the cooler areas.

Funny this mix was a few years ago now and I’ve moved away from it. I struggled with clumping of the coco-coir and keeping consistent moisture and drainage. I found the surface would go hydrophobic after a while too and not let water seep in. I’ve just had a couple of bags of the stuff arrive yesterday that you recommended. I used to buy the cheap bricks that expand in water. 

[happypalms]

1 hour ago, tim_brissy_13 said:

Funny this mix was a few years ago now and I’ve moved away from it. I struggled with clumping of the coco-coir and keeping consistent moisture and drainage. I found the surface would go hydrophobic after a while too and not let water seep in. I’ve just had a couple of bags of the stuff arrive yesterday that you recommended. I used to buy the cheap bricks that expand in water. 

Don’t forget to add perlite as well. That brick stuff is crap typical Bunnings.