Species · genus Phoenix · Arecaceae

Loureir's Date Palm

Phoenix loureiroi Kunth

Also known as: Loureiro's Palm · Spiny Date Palm

Growth habit

shrub or tree

Native range

Assam, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China Southeast, East Himalaya, Hainan, India, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, West Himalaya

Phoenix loureiroi — reference photo — Daderot · CC0

Cultivars of P. loureiroi

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

No named cultivars catalogued under P. loureiroi 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.

A Palm of Many Names

Phoenix loureiroi is a palm-family shrub or tree, accepted under that name by Kew's Plants of the World Online. It carries a tangle of old synonyms behind it, a sign of a plant that botanists have long puzzled over and re-described.

Source: Kew

Range Across Monsoon Asia

This palm's native range runs from the Indian Subcontinent through southeast China and into the Philippines, taking in Assam, Bangladesh, Cambodia, southeast China, the East and West Himalaya, Hainan, India, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. It grows chiefly in the wet tropical biome, though one of its varieties leans toward subtropical conditions on the Indian Subcontinent. Two accepted varieties split this range between them: var. loureiroi across Indo-China into southeast China and the Philippines, and var. pedunculata across the Indian Subcontinent.

Source: Kew

Shrub or Tree Habit

Phoenix loureiroi grows as a shrub or tree, the form typical of its palm relatives. Its varieties differ mainly in geography and biome preference rather than in any dramatic form noted here, with var. pedunculata favoring subtropical settings and var. loureiroi tied to wetter tropical ground.

Source: Kew

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 7-14d)
Humidity: ai:claude-opus-4-8
Soil: ai:claude-fable-5
Care: ai:claude-fable-5

Light

Direct sun

Water

≈ every 14 days

Humidity

Medium

Temperature

13–32 °C

Soil mix

Gritty, fast-draining loam with sand and perlite

Propagation

Seed, or separation of basal suckers

Fertilizing

Balanced palm feed a few times in the growing season

Growth rate

Slow

Flowering

Rarely flowers indoors

ToxicityAuthoritative · species

Not yet documented

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.

Sources: ai:claude-opus-4-8 · ai:claude-opus-4-8 (range 7-14d) · ai:claude-fable-5

Kept true by its growers

Every fact here carries its source. Grow Loureir's Date Palm yourself? What you’ve observed — how it drinks, how it holds its color, a name that’s off — and a clear photo of your plant are exactly what keep this page honest. Contributions are reviewed before anything changes.