Species · genus Dypsis · Arecaceae

Yellow Butterfly Palm

Dypsis lutescens (H.Wendl.) Beentje & J.Dransf.

Also known as: Areca Palm · Butterfly Palm · Cane Palm · Golden-yellow Palm · Yellow Palm

Growth habit

shrub or tree

Reference · D. lutescens

Cultivars of D. lutescens

The named forms growers keep — each with its own page, each honest about how much we know.

No named cultivars catalogued under D. lutescens yet. When growers document a stable, named form, it earns its own page here.

Guide

The species-level account. Cultivar pages build on this and say where they differ.

Dypsis lutescens is a clustering palm in the family Arecaceae, growing as a multi-stemmed shrub or small tree with feathery fronds. Give it bright indirect light and a well-draining mix, and water when the top inch or two of soil has dried; palms resent both standing water and complete drought. It tolerates ordinary household humidity, though brown frond tips can signal air that is too dry.

Care recipe

The species record — the baseline every cultivar inherits unless it says otherwise.

Care notes are early — not yet verified

Light: ai:claude-opus-4-8
Water: ai:claude-opus-4-8 (range 7-12d)
Humidity: ai:claude-opus-4-8
Soil: ai:claude-fable-5
Care: ai:claude-fable-5

Light

Bright, indirect

Water

≈ every 12 days

Humidity

Medium

Temperature

16–29 °C

Soil mix

Well-draining peat-based mix with sand and perlite

Propagation

Seed; occasionally by dividing clumping suckers

Fertilizing

Balanced palm feed monthly in spring and summer

Growth rate

Moderate

Flowering

Rarely flowers indoors

ToxicityAuthoritative · species

Non-toxic to cats & dogs

Areca / golden-cane palm (Dypsis lutescens) — ASPCA non-toxic to cats, dogs, horses. This is where toxicity lives: every cultivar of this species inherits it and none can override it.

Reference images

Every image credited. Licenses link to their deeds.

No reference gallery yet

A few clear photos — habit, a mature leaf, a flower if it blooms — would give this page its eyes.

Add images

Sources: ai:claude-opus-4-8 · ai:claude-opus-4-8 (range 7-12d) · ai:claude-fable-5 · ASPCA

Kept true by its growers

Every fact here carries its source. Grow Yellow Butterfly Palm yourself? What you’ve observed — how it drinks, how it holds its color, a name that’s off — is exactly what keeps this page honest. Contributions are reviewed before anything changes.