Botany
Small clustering palm. Stems are stout, roughened with fallen leaf scars, clustered, 2 to 3 meters high, 5 to 10 cm in diameter. Leaves are about 1 meter across, glossy and fan-shaped, deeply divided 9- to 13-partite and horizontally spreading with toothed edges. Flowers are sessile, in 2 or 3 rows, nearly oval in shape. Corolla is longer than the calyx, divided below the middle in three, broad, lanceolate segments. Fruit is ovocvoid, 5 to 8 mm long, pelicelled by the calyx tube, red when mature, and one seeded. Seed is ovoid and horseshoe-shaped.

Distribution
In seashores, back of mangroves in brackish mud. Grows wild in thickets at low altitudes.
Cultivated for ornamental purposes.

Parts used
Bark

Folkloric u ses
Bark used in combination with other drugs for treatment of tuberculosis.

Availability
Wildcrafted and ornamental cultivation.