English: Doub palm; Palmyra palm; Tala palm; Toddy palm; Wine palm; Lontar fruit.
Indonesian: Siwalan; Nusa Lontar.
Synonym: Borassus flabellifera.
Region: India, Southeast Asia, Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Laos, Burma, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines.
Content: vitamin B, vitamin C, iron, zinc, potassium, calcium, phosphorus, thiamin, riboflavin.
Use: wood of good quality, heavy, hard, blackish for building material, shelter, tools, handicrafts; stalk and fronds for fiber for clothing; female flowers sap for drinking directly, cooked into sugar like Rote Palm Sugar, fermented into tuak.
BotanyTree; palm; robust; up to 30 m high.
Stem: trunk grey, robust, ringed with leaf scars; old leaves remain attached to the trunk for several years before falling cleanly;
Leaves: fan-shaped; with robust black teeth on the petiole margins; 3 m long.
Inflorescences; within the catkin-like.
Flowers: dioecious; male flowers form semi-circular clusters, hidden beneath scale-like bracts, less than 1 cm long; female flowers are golfball-sized, solitary, upon the surface of the inflorescence axis.
Fruits: fleshy, ± 20 cm wide, containing 1-3 seeds, black to brown, with sweet, fibrous pulp; like mangosteen, clear white flesh like kolang-kaling, taste similar to coconut.
Seeds: enclosed within a woody endocarp; seedlings grow slowly, producing only a few leaves each year; grow rapidly, when established, producing a substantial stem.