Author:
Jan Scholten
Book:
Qjurious
Type:
Info
Chapter:
3-633.46.__
Borassus flabellifer
English: Doub palm; Palmyra palm; Tala palm; Toddy palm; Wine palm.
Region: India, Southeast Asia, Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Laos, Burma, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines.
Botany: robust tree, up to 30 m high; trunk grey, robust, ringed with leaf scars; old leaves remain attached to the trunk for several years before falling cleanly; leaves fan-shaped, 3 m long, with robust black teeth on the petiole margins; dioecious; male flowers are less than 1 cm long, form semi-circular clusters, which are hidden beneath scale-like bracts within the catkin-like inflorescences; female flowers are golfball-sized, solitary, sitting upon the surface of the inflorescence axis; fruits fleshy, ± 20 cm wide, containing 1-3 seeds, black to brown, with sweet, fibrous pulp; seeds enclosed within a woody endocarp; seedlings grow slowly, producing only a few leaves each year (establishment phase), but at an as yet undetermined time, they grow rapidly, producing a substantial stem.