Cyrtostachys renda (Red Sealing Wax Palm)


  • TropPlant Accession Number (TPAN): 0051
  • Botanical Name: Cyrtostachys renda
  • Common Name: Red Sealing Wax Palm, Lipstick Palm, Rajah Palm, Mark Dang (Thai Name), Pinang Rajah (Malay Name)
  • Cultivar: N/A
  • Family: Arecaceae 
Cyrtostachys renda in front of Hawaii Hall at the University of Hawaii Manoa
Photo by Matthew Gaston

  • Native To: Southern Thailand, Malaysia, Sumatra, and Borneo

Landscaping Information

    • Plant Type: Palm
    • Texture: Dense
    • Form: Upright-Narrow
    • Height (on average, in landscape use): 10'- 45' (usually seen on the smaller end because if its slow growing rate)
    • Height to Spread Ratio: 3:1
    • Growth Rate: Slow
    • Landscape Values: Accent, Background, Border, Color, Edging, Facer, Filler, Foundation, Framing, Mass, Patio, Quick Effect, Screen, Sculptural Form, Space Division, Specimen
    • Outstanding Quality: Foliage Color, Form/Silhouette, Foliage Characters, Bark
    Cyrtostachys renda near drainage of a shade house
    Photo by Matthew Gaston

    Botanical Descriptions

    • Flowers: Inconspicuous, tiny white flowers on an inflorescence spike.
    • Fruits: Small Ovoid, 0.25"-0.5" diameter, green to blackish blue when ripe.
    • Foliage Color: Young/immature: Light Green. Mature: Bright Medium Green to Dark Green with Red.
    • Leaflet Tip: Acute
    • Leaflet Base: Acute
    • Petiole: 5"-6" long, vibrant red
    • Stipules: N/A
    • Leaflet Margins: Smooth
    • Leaf Arrangement: Alternate
    • Leaflet Shape: Linear
    • Leaf Type: Pinnate Frond with up to 50 leaflets
    • Leaf Texture: smooth, glabrous, slightly waxy
    • Leaf Special Notes: Astonishing red colored leaf base, petiole, and mid-rib. 
    Cyrtostachys renda 
    Photo by Matthew Gaston

    Cyrtostachys renda 
    Photo by Matthew Gaston

    • Bark and Trunk: Prominent internodes green to brownish-gray as it matures. As a clumping palm, the arrangement of mature stems often reminds one of bamboo. White to Beige nodes.

    Horticultural Information

      • Light Preference: Shade to Full Sun
      • Soil Preferences: Loam, Sand, Organic, Moist, Well-Drained.
      • Tolerances: . Submerged Roots, Humidity, Regular Watering, 
      • Water Requirements: Naturally grows in peat -moss wetlands, so it is accustomed to being submerged. requires moist, loamy, sandy, organic, humid, well drained conditions. Cannot survive drought.
      • Additional Notes: Grows very slowly, difficult to propagate rendering it a high value plant.
      • Propagation: Seeds, Division
      • Minimum USDA Hardiness Zone: 11a
      • Weed Risk Assessment Score (WRA): 1, Evaluate

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