Hyphaene coriacea
Ilala Palm

This African beauty forms a low, multi-branched trunk that starts forking at ground level. This, together with its rigid, costapalmate, blue-green leaves and orange, pear-shaped fruit, gives it a very distinctive appearance. In some areas of its large range it forms dense colonies; but in cultivation, it is still comparatively rare. It can be grown in tropical and warm temperate zones and favors a savanna-type climate with hot summers. Once established, its deep roots will search out underground water, making it extremely drought tolerant. It is the only species in the genus small enough for an average garden, and is also the most frost resistant in the genus.