Wine palm, Palmyra Palm
Borassus flabellifer

Family: Arecaceae

What it is like

A small evergreen palm. It grows to 10-20 m tall. It can be 40 m high. It spreads to 5 m across. The stem is stout and it may be 1 m across. It is often swollen at the base. It has a crown of leaves shaped like the fingers on a hand or spreading out like a fan. There can be 30-40 of the fan like leaves at the crown. The leaves are large with short stout leaf stalks. There can be 80 slender leaflets which are pointed, folded and rich green. Younger trees are covered with dead leaves or leaf bases. Leaves can be 1-2 m across. The flowers occur in flower stalks up to 1.5 m long. The male and female flowers occur in different trees. The females spikes are larger and have a boat shaped spathe. The fruit are borne in bunches like coconuts. The fruit are 10-12.5 cm across and slightly flattened at the ends. They have dark purple skin. Green bracts occur at the base. Each fruit has 3 seeds. The flesh resembles the flesh of a coconut.

There are 7-10 Borassus species.

Where it is found

A tropical plant. It prefers a well drained soil. It needs a protected sunny position. It is drought and frost tender. Seed need to have a temperature of 24-29°C to grow. Trees need a temperature above 15-18°C. It does better in the drier tropics than in the humid tropics. It grows in seasonally wet and dry areas up to 500 m above sea level. Trees are very sensitive to cold. In Townsville palmetum. It suits hardiness zones 11-12.

Countries/locations it is found in

Andamans, Asia, Australia, Bangladesh (country/location of origin), Cambodia, China, Côte d'Ivoire, Cuba, East Africa, East Timor, Egypt, Gambia, Himalayas, India (country/location of origin), Indochina, Indonesia, Ivory Coast, Laos, Madagascar, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritania, Myanmar, Nepal, Niger, Nigeria, North Africa, Northeastern India, Pacific, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Sahel, SE Asia, Senegal, Socotra, South Africa, Southern Africa, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Vietnam, West Africa, West Indies, West Timor

How it is used for food

The flesh and the water of the fruit are edible. They can be eaten fresh or made into ice-cream. Edible starch can be extracted from the stem. The palm heart is edible. The palm can be tapped for sugary sap. This can be drunk, boiled and concentrated or fermented. The seeds are germinated and the young shoots eaten. The swollen storage leaf is eaten either as flour or boiled and dried. CAUTION: The palm hearts have been shown to be toxic to rats even when cooked.

The fruit are sold in markets. It is not known if it is used for food in Papua New Guinea. The young seeds are preserved in heavy sugar syrup and sold in jars or cans. It is very important in some countries. It is cultivated.

Edible parts

Sap, seeds, cabbage, flower spikes, fruit, palm heart

How it is grown

Plants are grown from seed. Seed take 2-6 months to germinate. Seedlings are difficult to transplant so seed should be sown where they are to grow. To extract the sap, male flower stalks give more sap than female. The unopened flower stalk is tied with a string then banged with a mallet for short times over 3 days before the end being sliced off and the sap collected. A small slither is cut off the end each day to keep the sap flowing.

One flower stalk can yield 2 litres per day of sap. One person can tap 30 trees per day. Each flowering stalk will yield for about 3 months. Tapping normally begins when a palm is 20 years old but then may continue for 30 years. A single palm can yield 100,000 litres of palm wine over a 40 year lifespan. The fruit matures in 120 days.

Its other names

Local names

Acadiru, Bak taan, Doub palm, Ental, Etal, Giginya, Htan, Kaakala, Karatalamu, Karumpana, Kerigi, Lontar palm, Mak tan kok, Pana, Panai, Panankai, Panna-maram, Pannei, Pohon siwalan, Kok tan, Nungu, Palem lontar, Palem siwalan, Taad, Taal, Taan, Tad-mar, Tad, Tadi, Tadichettu, Tal, Tala palm, Tale, Talgaha, Tali, Tanta note, Tar, Tatichettu, Than, Thnot, Toddy palm, Yod taan

Synonyms

Borassus sundaicus Becc.; Borassus flabelliformis Roxb.; Borassus tunicata Lour.; Pholidocarpus tunicatus (Lour.) H. Wendl.; and others