This is an understory palm from vanuatu. The "snakeskin palm", in habitat, grows to about twenty feet tall, but much smaller in cultivation, with a trunk a foot and a half in diameter and when young is very difficult to distinguish from the Caryota zebrina. The leaves of ophiopelis are less glossy, a lighter green and thinner or finer, the leaflets less diamond shaped than Zebrina and mature trees would be much smaller than Zebrina. It will tolerate no cold, needs filtered light or shade, rich soil and ample water.