''Borassus'' (palmyra palm) is a genus of five species of
fan palms, native to tropical regions of Africa, Asia, and
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...
.
Description
These massive palms can grow up to high and have robust trunks with distinct leaf scars; in some species, the trunk develops a distinct swelling just below the crown, though for unknown reasons.
The
leaves
A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above ground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, stem, ...
are fan-shaped, long, with spines along the
petiole margins (no spines in ''B. heineanus''). The leaf sheath has a distinct cleft at its base, through which the
inflorescence
In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branches. An inflorescence is categorized on the basis of the arrangement of flowers on a mai ...
s appear; old leaf sheaths are retained on the trunk, but fall away with time.
All ''Borassus'' palms are
dioecious
Dioecy ( ; ; adj. dioecious, ) is a characteristic of certain species that have distinct unisexual individuals, each producing either male or female gametes, either directly (in animals) or indirectly (in seed plants). Dioecious reproduction is ...
, with male and female flowers on separate plants; male
flower
Flowers, also known as blooms and blossoms, are the reproductive structures of flowering plants ( angiosperms). Typically, they are structured in four circular levels, called whorls, around the end of a stalk. These whorls include: calyx, m ...
s are less than long and in semicircular clusters, sandwiched between leathery
bract
In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale.
Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves in size, color, shape or texture. They also lo ...
s in pendulous
catkin
A catkin or ament is a slim, cylindrical flower cluster (a spike), with inconspicuous or no petals, usually wind- pollinated ( anemophilous) but sometimes insect-pollinated (as in '' Salix''). It contains many, usually unisexual flowers, arra ...
s; female flowers are wide, globe-shaped and solitary, sitting directly on the surface of the inflorescence axis.
The fruits are wide and roughly spherical, and each contains one to three large seeds. Depending on the species, fruit colour varies from black to brown, yellow, or orange; the fibrous pulp is aromatic and sweet to taste. Each seed is enclosed in a woody
endocarp
Fruits are the mature ovary or ovaries of one or more flowers. They are found in three main anatomical categories: aggregate fruits, multiple fruits, and simple fruits.
Fruitlike structures may develop directly from the seed itself rather th ...
, which protects it when the fruit is consumed by elephants, monkeys, and other
frugivore
A frugivore ( ) is an animal that thrives mostly on raw fruits or succulent fruit-like produce of plants such as roots, shoots, nuts and seeds. Approximately 20% of mammalian herbivores eat fruit. Frugivores are highly dependent on the abundance ...
s. At
germination
Germination is the process by which an organism grows from a seed or spore. The term is applied to the sprouting of a seedling from a seed of an angiosperm or gymnosperm, the growth of a sporeling from a spore, such as the spores of fungi, ...
, the young seedling extends downwards into the soil and only a few leaves are visible above ground; this provides some protection against frequent fires in its
savanna
A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) biome and ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach th ...
habitat; after an indeterminate number of years (the establishment phase), the seedling forms a stem and quickly grows above the savanna vegetation, where it is then less vulnerable to fire.
Species
Cultivation and uses
Palmyra palms are economically useful and widely cultivated, especially in South Asia and Southeast Asia. The palmyra palm has long been one of the most important trees of
Cambodia
Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline ...
and India, where it has over 800 uses. The leaves are used for
thatch
Thatching is the craft of building a roof with dry vegetation such as straw, Phragmites, water reed, Cyperaceae, sedge (''Cladium mariscus''), Juncus, rushes, Calluna, heather, or palm branches, layering the vegetation so as to shed water away fr ...
ing,
mat
A mat is a hard or soft floor covering that generally is placed on a floor or other flat surface. Mats serve a range of purposes including:
* serving to clean items passed over it, such as a doormat, which removes dirt from the soles of shoe ...
s,
basket
A basket is a container that is traditionally constructed from stiff Fiber, fibers, and can be made from a range of materials, including wood splints, Stolon, runners, and cane. While most baskets are made from plant materials, other materials ...
s,
fans,
hat
A hat is a Headgear, head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorpor ...
s, and
umbrella
An umbrella or parasol is a folding canopy supported by wooden or metal ribs that is mounted on a wooden, metal, or plastic pole. It is usually designed to protect a person against rain. The term ''umbrella'' is traditionally used when protec ...
s, and as
writing
Writing is the act of creating a persistent representation of language. A writing system includes a particular set of symbols called a ''script'', as well as the rules by which they encode a particular spoken language. Every written language ...
material.
In
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...
, it is more common in the northern part of the country, where it has many uses including the production of
jaggery
Jaggery is a List of unrefined sweeteners, traditional non-centrifugal cane sugar consumed in the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, North America, Central America, Brazil and Africa. It is a concentrated product of Sugarcane juice, cane jui ...
from the syrup.
In Cambodia, the tree is a national floral symbol/emblem that is seen growing around
Angkor Wat
Angkor Wat (; , "City/Capital of Wat, Temples") is a Buddhism and Hinduism, Hindu-Buddhist temple complex in Cambodia. Located on a site measuring within the ancient Khmer Empire, Khmer capital city of Angkor, it was originally constructed ...
. Palmyra palms can live for over 100 years.
In ancient India, palmyra leaves were used as
writing paper
Printing and writing papers are paper grades used for newspapers, magazines, catalogs, books, notebooks, commercial printing, business forms, stationeries, copying and digital printing. About 1/3 of the total pulp and paper marked (in 2000) is p ...
, with their parallel veins providing a useful rule. In India, mature leaves of suitable size, shape, and texture were chosen and
preserved by boiling in salt water with
turmeric
Turmeric (), or ''Curcuma longa'' (), is a flowering plant in the ginger family Zingiberaceae. It is a perennial, rhizomatous, herbaceous plant native to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia that requires temperatures between and high ...
powder. Once dry enough, the leaf surfaces were polished with
pumice
Pumice (), called pumicite in its powdered or dust form, is a volcanic rock that consists of extremely vesicular rough-textured volcanic glass, which may or may not contain crystals. It is typically light-colored. Scoria is another vesicula ...
, cut to the proper size and a hole was cut in one corner. Each leaf has four pages and a
stylus
A stylus is a writing utensil or tool for scribing or marking into softer materials. Different styluses were used to write in cuneiform by pressing into wet clay, and to scribe or carve into a wax tablet. Very hard styluses are also used to En ...
is used to write; the style is
cursive
Cursive (also known as joined-up writing) is any style of penmanship in which characters are written joined in a flowing manner, generally for the purpose of making writing faster, in contrast to block letters. It varies in functionality and m ...
and interconnected. Completed leaves are then tied up as sheaves.
The black
timber
Lumber is wood that has been processed into uniform and useful sizes (dimensional lumber), including beams and planks or boards. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, window frames). ...
is hard, heavy, and durable and highly valued for
construction
Construction are processes involved in delivering buildings, infrastructure, industrial facilities, and associated activities through to the end of their life. It typically starts with planning, financing, and design that continues until the a ...
, especially in structures exposed to water, such as wharves, fences, and boats.
The tree yields many types of food. The young plants are cooked as a
vegetable
Vegetables are edible parts of plants that are consumed by humans or other animals as food. This original meaning is still commonly used, and is applied to plants collectively to refer to all edible plant matter, including edible flower, flo ...
or roasted and pounded to make meal. The
fruit
In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants (angiosperms) that is formed from the ovary after flowering.
Fruits are the means by which angiosperms disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particular have long propaga ...
s are eaten roasted or raw, as are the young, jelly-like seeds. A sugary
sap, called
toddy, can be obtained from the young inflorescence, both male and female, and this is fermented to make a beverage called
arrack
Arrack is a Distillation, distilled alcoholic drink typically produced in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia, made from the Fermentation (food), fermented sap of coconut flowers or sugarcane, and also with grain (e.g. red rice) or fruit depending upon ...
, or concentrated to produce a crude sugar called
jaggery
Jaggery is a List of unrefined sweeteners, traditional non-centrifugal cane sugar consumed in the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, North America, Central America, Brazil and Africa. It is a concentrated product of Sugarcane juice, cane jui ...
/
palm sugar
Palm sugar is a sweetener derived from any variety of palm tree. Palm sugar may be qualified by the type of palm, as in coconut palm sugar. While sugars from different palms may have slightly different compositions, all are processed simila ...
. It is called ''gula Jawa'' (
Java
Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...
nese sugar) in Indonesia and is widely used in Javanese cuisine. The roots can be dried to form ''
odiyal'', a hard, chewable snack. In addition, the tree sap is taken as a
laxative
Laxatives, purgatives, or aperients are substances that loosen stools and increase bowel movements. They are used to treat and prevent constipation.
Laxatives vary as to how they work and the side effects they may have. Certain stimulant, lubri ...
, and medicinal value has been ascribed to other parts of the plant.
In Tamil culture
The palmyra tree () is the official tree of
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...
; it is highly respected and used by the people. The leaf of the tree is used for fan making. It is also placed for roofs. The leaves are placed on top of a house. It is also used for baskets, mats, hats, and more. The fruit is eaten by many. The fruit is called nungu. This fruit is also used to make sweets. The wood is used for making beds, tables, chairs, cabinets and much more. In ancient times, this plant's bark was used to make pencils to write on banana leaves. The Sri Lankan government has created a separate Palmyra Development Board for the sectoral development and the Indian government has also funded for the research. The project is aimed at reviving the palmyra palm industry in Jaffna district, which has over 3.5 million trees.
References
External links
* http://www.plantnames.unimelb.edu.au/Sorting/Borassus.html -excellent Australian site of multilingual fruit names
* http://www.pacsoa.org.au/palms/Borassus/index.html
* https://web.archive.org/web/20181117104544/http://www.borassus-project.net/
{{Authority control
Arecaceae genera
Dioecious plants
Edible palms
Fruit trees