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An example collection, so you can see what this page does. Nothing added here is kept: leaving deletes it.
Livistona saribus; photograph (c) Jens-Christian Svenning, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) Jens-Christian Svenning, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2000-11-16

Livistona saribus (Lour.) Merr. ex A.Chev.

Taraw palm

Arecaceae · Cambodia, Laos +6 · listed by its genus as a tropical foliage plant

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Livistona saribus, photograph (c) Jens-Christian Svenning, some rights reserved (CC BY)Livistona saribus, photograph (c) Oleg Kosterin, some rights reserved (CC BY)Livistona saribus, photograph (c) Oleg Kosterin, some rights reserved (CC BY)Livistona saribus, photograph (c) Oleg Kosterin, some rights reserved (CC BY)Livistona saribus, photograph (c) Oleg Kosterin, some rights reserved (CC BY)Livistona saribus, photograph (c) Oleg Kosterin, some rights reserved (CC BY) 13 photographs ›
Habitat figuresfrom few records
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
22.1°C
Record low 19.9 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
30°C
Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug and Sep at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
2,280mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
30–39DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in the habitat's months, not shifted
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
A sharp rainy season, May to October (the habitat's months, not shifted), in a year of even temperature. rain rule, CHELSA
Not shifted: the shift rule does not apply to this habitat. The chart is in the habitat's months.

From few records: 11 records in 9 grid cells. The records.

Summary

Livistona saribus, also known as the swamp serdang or taraw palm, is a species of palm tree in the family Arecaceae. It is native to tropical Borneo, Cambodia, Java, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Livistona saribus", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Livistona

Livistona is a genus of palms, the botanical family Arecaceae, native to southeastern and eastern Asia, Australasia, and the Horn of Africa. They are fan palms, the leaves with an armed petiole terminating in a rounded, costapalmate fan of numerous leaflets.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Livistona", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Grouped as a tropical foliage plant, listed under the genus Livistona in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “tree”, “wet tropical”.

Seasons

The rain rule reads a sharp season: 70% of the median year's rain (1,746 mm of 2,202 mm) falls in May to October. The temperature curve is flat, 2.3 °C between the warmest and coldest month, so the growing-season rule does not infer a growing season from it. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere. The temperature curve moves under 4 °C between the warmest and coldest month, where the shift rule does not apply, so they are not shifted for a collection elsewhere.

Rain

2,202 mm in the median year at the habitat, 1,746 mm of it May to October. Wettest month September at 337 mm, driest month January at 33 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 1,953 mm to 2,874 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 2,280 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 2,202 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 30 to 39 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 23, the highest 90th-percentile month 41).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 22.1 °C, the absolute minimum 19.9 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 33.7 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 22.3 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range 16.2 °C to 23.6 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 30.2 °C in March and April (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 22.1 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 64 to 68% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: 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 moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

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

Light. 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.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected -20 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Group. Listed under the genus Livistona in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “tree”, “wet tropical”. A group is taken only where Kew's description of the species agrees with the table's listing. The table gives no figure and no prose; the cold floor is the habitat's alone.

Climate across the habitat

From few records: this habitat climate is read from 11 records in 9 grid cells; a page says so under 12 records or 5 cells, and shows the figures as read.

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Livistona saribus through the yearWarmest months February, March, April, May, June, July, August and September, mean daily high 30 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low 22.3 °C; 2,202 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.15°20°25°30°35°33.7° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER19.9° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500mm rainDLI 30–39RH 64–68%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 9 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C29 / 25–3030 / 26–3130 / 27–3330 / 28–3430 / 28–3230 / 29–3130 / 28–3130 / 28–3030 / 28–3029 / 27–3029 / 25–3028 / 24–30
Night °C22 / 16–2423 / 18–2424 / 20–2524 / 22–2624 / 24–2625 / 23–2624 / 23–2624 / 23–2524 / 23–2524 / 22–2423 / 20–2423 / 17–24
Rain mm33 / 6–20036 / 5–17376 / 39–228135 / 83–227255 / 197–281280 / 145–436301 / 166–460330 / 128–498337 / 166–391243 / 131–363136 / 42–32740 / 8–257
DLI34 / 27–3537 / 30–3939 / 31–4138 / 32–4034 / 30–3631 / 29–3531 / 29–3432 / 28–3530 / 27–3630 / 27–3531 / 23–3230 / 23–32
RH %64 / 54–6964 / 54–6864 / 54–6865 / 59–6967 / 64–7067 / 65–7067 / 64–7167 / 63–7168 / 63–7268 / 62–7166 / 59–7465 / 56–71
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 9 grid cells holding the 11 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 1660:5606 (6.975, 100.325). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 19.9 °C, 1st-percentile night 22.1 °C, 99th-percentile day 33.7 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 9 distinct grid cells holding 11 of the 11 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1660:5606 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 7.00_100.625, lapse-corrected -20 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 34 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeCambodia, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, Borneo, Jawa, Malaya, Philippines · introduced: China South-Central, China Southeast, Society Is. · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker20.594, 105.902 · in the densest population, 22 records (59% of those in range)
Kew's description“tree” · “wet tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 37 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 11 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 27 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 868 km away. 18 records outside the WCVP native range not used. Under a dozen records behind the climate. 26 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 37 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Livistona saribus, photograph 1did not loadLivistona saribus, photograph 2did not loadLivistona saribus, photograph 3did not loadLivistona saribus, photograph 4did not loadLivistona saribus, photograph 5did not loadLivistona saribus, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Jens-Christian Svenning, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Oleg Kosterin, some rights reserved (CC BY) (5).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Lasia spinosa Lasia spinosa Spiny Lasia Photo: CC BY, Rongrong AngkaewSaraca indica Saraca indica Asoka-tree Photo: CC BY, Utain PummarinSyzygium antisepticum Syzygium antisepticum Myrtaceae Photo: CC BY, luluchouetteSyzygium samarangense Syzygium samarangense Java-apple Photo: CC0, author not statedCitrus hystrix Citrus hystrix Kaffir lime Photo: CC BY, rjtizard Hemionitis ludens Pteridaceae

Other Livistona 13 in the reference

Livistona australis Livistona australis Cabbage tree palm Photo: CC BY, ZaraLivistona benthamii Livistona benthamii Arecaceae Photo: CC BY, Stella FishLivistona carinensis Livistona carinensis Bankoualé Palm Photo: CC BY-SA, David J. StangLivistona chinensis Livistona chinensis Chinese fan palm Photo: CC BY, Cheng-Te HsuLivistona decora Livistona decora Ribbon Fan Palm Photo: CC BY, Scott W. GavinsLivistona drudei Livistona drudei Drude’s palm Photo: CC0, Ruff tuff cream puffLivistona fulva Livistona fulva Blackdown Fan Palm Photo: CC BY, Martin Hannan-JonesLivistona humilis Livistona humilis Cabbage palm Photo: CC BY, Stella FishLivistona jenkinsiana Livistona jenkinsiana Himalayan fan palm Photo: CC BY, chintan shethLivistona mariae Livistona mariae Central Australian cabbage palm Photo: CC BY, Gary DicksonLivistona muelleri Livistona muelleri Arecaceae Photo: CC BY, Bryce Watts-ParkerLivistona nitida Livistona nitida Carnarvon Fan Palm Photo: CC BY, quirino all 14 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Chamaerops cochinchinensis; Corypha saribus; Livistona cochinchinensis; Livistona hasseltii; Livistona hogendorpii and 12 more. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Arecaceae
Described by
(Lour.) Merr. ex A.Chev.
Native to
Cambodia, Laos, Thailand +5
Wild records
37 in range · 27 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 9 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (8 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 1 at a zoo; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 7.00_100.625, lapse-corrected -20 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22none of the photographs on this page is credited to GBIF: those shown are other sources', and GBIF's were the same photographs or were set aside by the photograph rules
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 14 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

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