Botanical name: Licuala grandis / Pritchardia grandis Common name: The Tuffled Fan Palm, Vanuatu Fan Palm, Palas Palm Kingdom: Plantae Clade: Tracheophytes Clade: Angiosperms Clade: Monocots Clade: Commelinids Order: Arecales Family: Arecaceae Tribe: Trachycarpeae Genus: Licuala Species: L. grandis Well known by now for its large, circular, simple, undivided, and closely pleated leaves, this Licuala makes a magnificent plant for indoors or out. The seed germinates readily and grows slowly but steadily in the tropical or warm subtropical garden, producing a slender trunk in the process. In the tropics it can be planted in sun or full shade but should be out of the wind. In hot, dry regions a shaded spot is best. It is originally native to disturbed or secondary forests on San Cristobal and the Santa Cruz Islands (part of the Solomon Islands) and throughout most of Vanuatu the South West Pacific, and not, as older publications erroneously state, to the Island of New Britain.