A low growing palm from tropical Mexico and Guatemala with elegant feather shaped fronds. Ideally suited for low light levels and eventually reaches a height of around 3 meters with an almost bamboo like trunk forming with age. Tiny yellow flowers are borne on mature plants in terminal panicles and are more interesting than attractive. It's low light requirements, ability to tolerate abuse and smoky rooms made it very popular with the Victorians which gave birth to the common name of Parlour palm.

As mentioned, it's abuse tolerance makes it is a very easy plant to grow in the home, often not worried about short periods of neglect. The only requirement they do not like is direct sunlight. This will scorch the leaves. It is an understory plant in it's home territory so grows beneath the canopy of other, taller rainforest plants and prefers shade.

Hardiness wise it is proving to be quite cold tolerant down here on the South Coast of England. If the right micro-environment is created and it is given a well drained, but humus rich soil we would say hardy down -5 to -7c. We have 3 clumps in our experimental garden that are now in their 2nd winter outside and although the outer leaves suffer a bit during extreme cold the inner leaves and the new fronds that are waiting to emerge seem to get through with relative ease. They are protected by a large, hardy evergreen that has a wide spreading canopy and that seems to be enough to get them through the winter.

Sent as a young plant in a 9cm pot. 

Additional photo by By I, Tequila, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2294828