Culture
Winter hardy to USDA Zones 9-11. Best in dappled sun/part shade locations. Tolerates some poor light and close to full shade. Leaves may burn in full sun. Excellent for indoor cultivation where it is best planted in a well-drained potting medium. Indoor plants are best sited in bright indirect light near a window. Best with regular and consistent moisture, particularly in summer, but with reduced water applications in winter. Established plants have some drought tolerance. Plants thrive in 70°F temperatures in summer but prefer somewhat cooler temperatures (above 55°F) in winter. Spreads by rhizome offshoots.
Noteworthy Characteristics
Rhapis excelsa, commonly known as lady palm or bamboo palm, is an evergreen fan palm that forms a dense clump of slender, upright, bamboo-like canes clad with palmate, deep green foliage consisting of deeply divided, fan-shaped leaves each of which divide into 5-8 finger-like, narrow-lanceolate segments. Leaf stalks to 18” long. Sturdy canes are covered with coarse, dark brown fiber. Plants are dioecious (male and female flowers on separate plants). Tiny, bowl-shaped, yellow flowers bloom seasonally in branched panicles but are not considered horticulturally significant. Lady palm is native to China, but may no longer exist in the wild. Outdoors it will grow to as much as 15’ tall and as wide, but it is more likely to top out at 6’ tall when grown indoors as a container plant.
Genus name comes from the Greek word rhapis meaning a needle with reference to the needlelike leaf segments.
Specific epithet from Latin means tall in reference to plant height (perhaps not a good name since it is not the tallest plant in the genus).
Problems
Leaf spot can be troublesome. Watch for aphids, nematodes and scale. Susceptible to fireblight.
Uses
Low light and humidity requirements make this an excellent container plant for homes, offices and shopping malls. Where winter hardy, plants form excellent screens and hedges. Foundations. Lots of varieties in green and variegated forms.