Species
+

Howea forsteriana (F.Muell.) Becc.

Forster sentry palm, Kentia Palm, Sentrypalm, Thatch Palm

Climate known 19 photographs Tropical foliage plant
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Howea forsteriana, the Kentia palm, thatch palm or palm court palm, is a species of flowering plant in the palm family, Arecaceae, endemic to Lord Howe Island in Australia. It is also widely grown on Norfolk Island. It is a relatively slow-growing palm, eventually growing up to 10 m (33 ft) tall by 6 m (20 ft) wide. Its fronds can reach 3 m (10 ft) long. More on Wikipedia ›

The opening of Wikipedia, “Howea forsteriana”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Howea

Howea is a genus of two palms, H. belmoreana and H. forsteriana, both endemic to Lord Howe Island, Australia. H. forsteriana in particular is commonly grown as an indoor plant in the Northern Hemisphere, and the two species form the mainstay of the island's palm seed industry and more importantly its trade in newly germinated seedlings. The palms are also cultivated on Norfolk Island, where seeds are produced for export.

Text from Wikipedia, “Howea”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Arecaceae
Described by
(F.Muell.) Becc.
Native to
Norfolk Is.
Wild records
164 in range· 150 open

At a glance

Warmest month
23°C
Feb, mean day; nights 22 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1592mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Apr 174 mm (CHELSA)
Light
16–44DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Grouped as a tropical foliage plant by the genus Howea, which is reliably one kind of plant (archetype table). Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (July to January and March in the northern hemisphere). Habitat rain 1592 mm a year, wettest April at 174 mm, driest October at 110 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 16 to 44 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 15.1 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Denea forsteriana (F.Muell.) O.F.Cook; Grisebachia forsteriana (F.Muell.) H.Wendl. & Drude; Howeia forsteriana (C.Moore & F.Muell.) Becc.; Kentia australis Anon.; Kentia forsteriana F.Muell.

Cultivation

Grouped as a tropical foliage plant by the genus Howea, which is reliably one kind of plant (archetype table). The table supplies one figure for this group, a conventional minimum for the cold floor, and no prose.

Its year Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (July to January and March in the northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads no season: 70% of the year's rain (1137 mm of 1592 mm) takes 8 months, January to July and September. Mean temperature moves 5.9 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: July to January and March.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 1592 mm a year, wettest April at 174 mm, driest October at 110 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1592 mm a year at the habitat, 1137 mm of it January to July and September. Wettest month April at 174 mm, driest October at 110 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 1234 mm to 1608 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 16 to 44 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 16 to 44 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor 15.1 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 15.1 °C, the absolute minimum 13.2 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 25.0 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 15.9 °C in August (across the envelope cells 15.7 °C to 16.1 °C), warmest day 23.3 °C in February (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 15.1 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER); the archetype table's minimum for a tropical foliage plant, 12 °C, is lower and does not raise it.

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, without lapse correction; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence, and the archetype table's group minimum where that is higher. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 55 to 60% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 18 °C in Aug to 23 °C in Feb; mean night from 16 °C in Aug to 22 °C in Feb. The cold quarter, Jul to Sep, is the three months around the coldest night. 1592 mm of rain a year, most in Apr. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 6 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 13.2 °C and the 99th-percentile day 25.0 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.10°15°20°25°30°25.0° 99th-percentile day (undated)13.2° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200mm rainDLI 16–44RH 55–60 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 6 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C23 / 23–2323 / 23–2323 / 22–2321 / 21–2220 / 20–2019 / 19–1918 / 18–1818 / 17–1818 / 18–1819 / 19–1920 / 20–2022 / 22–22
Night °C22 / 21–2222 / 22–2221 / 21–2220 / 20–2019 / 18–1917 / 17–1816 / 16–1716 / 16–1617 / 16–1717 / 17–1819 / 18–1920 / 20–21
Rain mm119 / 83–120121 / 91–122122 / 95–123174 / 118–175160 / 119–161172 / 130–175153 / 130–155114 / 103–116116 / 95–118110 / 71–111116 / 95–118115 / 107–116
DLI44 / 44–4439 / 39–4033 / 33–3426 / 25–2719 / 19–2116 / 16–1717 / 17–1923 / 23–2431 / 31–3238 / 38–3842 / 42–4344 / 44–44
RH %60 / 60–6360 / 59–6258 / 58–6158 / 57–6057 / 56–5856 / 55–5856 / 55–5755 / 55–5757 / 57–5858 / 57–5959 / 59–6060 / 60–62

Each figure is the median across the 6 grid cells holding the 164 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 2430:6782 (-31.525, 159.125). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 13.2 °C, 1st-percentile night 15.1 °C, 99th-percentile day 25.0 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 6 distinct grid cells holding the 164 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2430:6782 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -31.50_159.375, no lapse correction (no cell elevation on file).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeNorfolk Is.· introduced: Dominican Republic
Kew's description“tree” · “wet tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker-31.543, 159.077 · in the densest population, 161 records (98% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 164 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 150 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker in the same place. 111 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 164 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Howea forsterianaHowea forsterianaHowea forsterianaHowea forsterianaHowea forsterianaHowea forsterianaHowea forsterianaHowea forsteriana

Photographs: Michael Hains, CC BY, via GBIF (6); Leon Perrie, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF; William Harland, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF.

Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Howea forsteriana, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Potted-plant/growth media interactions and capacities for removal of volatiles from indoor air
R. A. Wood, R.L. Orwell, Jane Tarran, Fraser R. Torpy (2002) · The Journal of Horticultural Science and Biotechnology
How sympatric is speciation in the Howea palms of Lord Howe Island?
Wiesław Babik, Roger K. Butlin, William J. Baker, Alexander S. T. Papadopulos (2009) · Molecular Ecology
First Occurrence of Calonectria Leaf Spot on Mexican Blue Palm in Italy
G. Polizzi, F. M. Grasso, A. Vitale, Dalia Aiello (2007) · Plant Disease
First Report of Stem Bleeding and Trunk Rot of Kentia Palm Caused by Thielaviopsis paradoxa in Italy
G. Polizzi, I. Castello, Dalia Aiello, A. Vitale (2007) · Plant Disease
In vitro culture of immature embryos of Howea forsteriana Becc.
Isabel Moura, Maria Filomena Carneiro (1992) · Plant Cell Tissue and Organ Culture (PCTOC)
Ecological speciation in sympatric palms: 5. Evidence for pleiotropic speciation genes using gene knockout and high-throughput phenotyping
Matthew J Coathup, Katriina Mouhu, Kristiina Himanen, Colin Turnbull (2024) · Evolutionary Journal of the Linnean Society
Psocoptera from inflorescences of 'Howea forsteriana' (C. Moore and F.J. Muell.) Becc. (Arecaceae) (Thatch Palm) on Lord Howe Island
C. N. Smithers (1995) · General and Applied Entomology: The Journal of the Entomological Society of New South Wales

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not asked
inat.photos.wild not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: not asked: 15 wild photographs already from the GBIF download
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: filled 2026-09-20
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 28 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.