Wodyetia bifurcata

foxtail palm

Unknown to botanists until 1978, the foxtail palm was discovered in a small area of northeastern Australia in what is now Cape Melville National Park. While the palm has only very small populations in the wild, it is extensively cultivated because of its beauty, so its survival into the future is ensured. It was first introduced into the American nursery trade in 1995 and has flourished since then. The foxtail palm’s genus name commemorates the Aborigine (Wodyeti) who originally led botanists to the palm. Wodyeti was supposedly the last of his kind to have had extensive traditional knowledge of the plants and animals in this northeast corner of Queensland.

This story of the loss of traditional knowledge with regards to the natural environment is unfortunately all too familiar throughout the world. Hundreds and thousands of years of accumulated knowledge is lost either due to decimation of indigenous peoples or acculturation, which usually comes over the span of multiple generations. Younger generations see appeal in a more “modern” way of life, look down on their traditional roots due to cultural prejudices and see little value in learning traditional ways because they cannot make much money from them. Since many traditional cultures do not have a written language, knowledge that is normally passed verbally from generation to generation becomes more difficult to preserve and continue to practice. Many ethnobotanists work with indigenous cultures to develop a written language so that they may record their knowledge and ensure that it survives into the future.

Mature foxtail palms have a deep taproot of sorts that gives this palm exceptional drought tolerance. The palm can make itself at home in most any well-drained soil in the tropics; it is quite easy to accommodate and care for.

Newly discovered plants are very hot items for collectors, so black market trade can quickly develop for these plants. In the case of the foxtail palm, illegal collectors almost destroyed the small remaining native population by harvesting seeds and whole plants for the black market. In order to protect the palm, members of the Palm and Cycad Societies of Australia went so far as to spray paint ripening seeds on foxtail palms green in order to fool illegal collectors into thinking they were not ready to be picked. They would have had a lot of painting to do, as you can see in this video clip of a fruiting specimen: