Livistona chinensis, known by common names Chinese fan palm or fountain palm, belongs to the family Arecaceae (palm family). It is native to Ryukyu Island, Taiwan, southeastern China, Japan, and Hainan but has been naturalized in many other places.
This slow-growing palm with beautiful fronds and glossy bright green to olive leaves makes a beautiful ornamental plant for your patio, deck, and garden as well as indoors as a houseplant.
If you have pets, you will be happy to know that Chinese fan palm is safe for cats, dogs, and horses. Therefore, it will not harm these pets even if they nibble a few of its leaves.
It joints other true palms like majesty, parlor, areca (butterfly), ponytail, bamboo, cat, pygmy date, as well as kentia palms that are all safe to your cats and other pets.
However, don’t let your feline eat sago palm that belongs to the Cycad family, Cycadaceae. All parts of sago palms, except the seeds, are toxic since they have cycasin, which will cause symptoms like:
- Vomiting
- Increased thirst, bruising
- Hemorrhagic gastroenteritis
- Melena
- Liver damage and failure
- Icterus,
- Coagulopathy
- Even death.
Growing
As a cat-safe garden and houseplant, we give you a little insight into growing them, including the care they need. It will help you decide if you will go for it or settle for a different cat-friendly house plant. Some important tips include:
- Sunlight: While it does best in direct sunlight, it can tolerate indirect sunlight indoors as long as it is bright enough.
- Soil: When growing it indoors, you need a potting mix and a large pot since it can grow large. However, since it grows very slowly, don’t worry about it becoming too large too soon. If in your garden, typical well-drained soils will work well.
- Water: While it is somewhat drought tolerant when grown outdoors, you need to water it lightly twice or three times a week while ensuring the roots are not soaked with water during the growing season and reduce when dormant.
- Temperature: If you live in colder places that frost, you need this palm as it is the few that can withstand frosting conditions. It can withstand as low as -6.7 digress Celsius or 20 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Humidity: Will thrive from areas with air that is fairy dry to very humid conditions.
- Fertilizer: Feed it once a month while indoors as excessive feeding will make it grow fast. However, if growing it outdoors, you can fertilize it more.
Besides the above care tips, you need to prune any lower dry leaves and don’t re-pot it often since when grown in a port, it doesn’t grow fast as in the case when it grows in a garden (outdoor).
Other ornamentals
Besides Chinese fan palms, there are many other equally pet-safe plants you can consider having in your home that include
- Christmas cactus
- African violets
- Peperomia
- Bromeliad
- Haworthias
- Hens & chickens
- Goldfish plant
- Pheasant plant
- Rattlesnake
- Polka dot plant
- Lipstick plant
- Cast iron plant