Areca Palm or Yellow Butterfly Palm, Dypsis lutescens, is naturally a clustering trunk palm that can make a thick bush or it can be opened up to display the cane like trunks. This palm is soft green in shade or it has a yellowish cast in sun, hence the name Yellow Butterfly Palm.

Areca Palms are native to Madagascar and are well adapted to Florida's warmer areas. They will freeze to the ground with hard frosts or freezes. The palm will mature at 30 feet in height, but taller trunks can be cut away to contain the size.

Although this palm is popular for screening and accent in landscapes, like all non-native plants, it needs to be monitored for invasive qualities both in natural areas as well as in the urban landscape, where it can become weedy and high maintenance with the constant drop of seeds and leaves.

For screening, many native plants that provide sustainability that Areca Palms cannot, should be considered for superior effect and maintenance.