This impressive tropical palm is the Sugar Palm, Arenga pinnata.

It has a thick trunk covered with dark fibers and a broad crown of long, arching leaves. The leaflets are dark green above but silvery beneath, so the crown may flash silver when moved by the wind.

The palm produces large hanging clusters of flowers and fruit from the upper trunk. Unlike many palms, it flowers progressively downward over many years. After the lowest clusters have fruited, the trunk dies, although the palm may live for decades before completing this cycle.

Its common name comes from the sweet sap collected from the flower stalks. In Southeast Asia, that sap is boiled to make palm sugar and may also be fermented into vinegar or traditional drinks.

The fruits are round and ripen from green to yellow or dark brown. Their outer flesh contains irritating needle-like crystals, so fresh fruit must not be handled or eaten casually. The immature seeds can be made edible only after careful traditional processing.

Sugar Palm is native to tropical Asia and is valued for far more than sugar. Its fibers are used for rope, brushes, roofing, and other practical materials.

With its massive leaves, dark fibrous trunk, and hanging fruit clusters, the Sugar Palm is both a dramatic ornamental and one of the most useful palms in its native range.