Nypa palm, Mangrove Palm
Nypa fruticans

Family: Arecaceae

What it is like

A palm with stout creeping underground stems. It forms clumps. The stems lie along the ground and are underground in soft mud. The leaves have leaflets along a 7 m long axis. The leaves occur in erect clusters. The leaflets are 0.-1.3 m long by 5-8 cm wide. The fruit are flat and 12 cm long by 10 cm across. They are crowded into a very characteristic large round fruiting head which is borne on a special erect stalk. The female flower is a round head on the end of the stalk and below it long male flowers are produced. The centre of the fruit is edible.

There is only one Nypa species.

Where it is found

A tropical plant. It suits the hot wet tropical lowlands. They occur along tidal streams throughout the Philippines. They thrive in brackish swamps. They occur in tidal mud flats and mangroves. They occur naturally along the Papuan coast of Papua New Guinea but are most likely planted along the North coast.

Countries/locations it is found in

Africa, Andamans, Asia, Australia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Chuuk, Cuba, FSM, Guam, Guyana, India, Indochina, Indonesia, Japan, Kosrae, Malaysia, Micronesia, Myanmar, Nigeria, Pacific, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Pohnpei, SE Asia, Solomon Islands, South America, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam, West Africa, West Indies, Yap

How it is used for food

The young kernel inside the nut is edible. It is normally eaten while immature. Also the base of the "nut" is chewed. Sugar (or vinegar) can be obtained by collecting the sap from the fruit stalk. The sap can be used as a coagulant for buffalo milk cheese. It can be boiled down to produce sugar. Young shoots are eaten.

The palm occurs near mangrove swamps and along the shoreline, in Papua New Guinea. The nut is used especially by children. It is cultivated.

Edible parts

Seeds, sap, shoots, cabbage, fruit

How it is grown

Plants can be grown from seed. Plants can be grown by dividing off suckers. To get the sap to flow in the stalk, the stalk must be banged and shaken then the end cut off and trimmed daily. Tree densities of up to 2,500 palms per hectare occur but only 700-750 are sap producing. Plants are spaced at 1.5-1.7 m giving 390 per hectare where plantings occur. Plants are pollinated by insects therefore contact insecticides need to be avoided. To collect sap the almost full grown head is cut off. About 2 mm of the tip is removed each day during sap collection. Sap flow is increased by banging the trunk and tapping the fruit stalk regularly.

Palms flower and fruit after 3-5 years. Yields of sap of up to 1,500 ml of sap per day per palm over one month can be achieved. Tapping can occur for 50 years. Yields can be 87,000 litres of sap per hectare. Near Kerema in Papua New Guinea it flowers in May and fruits in July. The season is later in the Western Province.

Its other names

Local names

Aian, Ayeng, Aying, Ayung, Chak, Dani, Fahsuc, Gabna, Ginpol, Golphal, Golpata, Golpatta, Gulga, Jahk, Kiya, Kiye, Kuwe, Nipah, Nipamu, Pardeshi-tadio, Pardeshitadio, Parem, Poothada, Rola, Teuechel, Touechel

Synonyms

Nipa fruticans;