Borassus flabellifer

Three Palmyra palm ( Borassus flabellifer ) in Angkor Wat.

The Palmyra palm ( Borassus flabellifer ), also Lontarpalme, Lontaropalme, is one of the most common palms. It takes the sugar palm tree in the dry tropical regions of South India. Presence on both coasts of the Persian Gulf, on the Malabar coast as far as Gujarat and to the Indus, along the Coromandel coast to Chennai, the Irrawaddy in Indochina, to Malacca, the Sunda Islands and the Moluccas to Timor, here and there forming entire forests. Your area extends approximately between 10 ° south and 30 ° north latitude and between 54 ° and 140 ° east longitude. In the mountains of Ceylon it grows to 770 m above sea level, but also preferred sandy plains at sea level. It is now grown in other areas of Asia and tropical Africa.

Description

The trunk reaches heights of up to 30 m, diameter of 60 cm and runs conical, so that he existing at the fan-shaped from a dozen, up to 3 m long leaves crown is only 30 cm thick. This species is dioecious getrenntgeschlechtig ( dioecious ); male and female inflorescences appear on two different plants. Puberty between 12 and 15 years of age. The same fruits of the coconut, but are somewhat smaller and rounder, and the size of a child's head.

Use

The outer shell of the nut contains a spongy, juicy when ripe flesh that tastes sweet and not unpleasant. In the soft mass are three elongated round nuts with rock-hard shell and a bluish, gelatinous, edible core of sweet taste. In the immature core a sweet, tasty milky juice is contained. The Palmyra palm is partially planted in the East Indies next to the coconut tree and represents them in some areas.

From the male inflorescences are obtained by wrapping, crushing and daily cutting a thin slice months a sugar-rich juice ( toddy ), which is processed into palm sugar or palm wine. The ripe fruits are eaten raw or roasted, or used for pies. Beautiful black, rock-hard wood, but especially used for carpentry and turnery as a very durable timber. The leaves are used for fencing and roofing. It is also used for making mats, bags, baskets, fans, hats and umbrellas. Indian Buddhist scriptures were previously on Palmyra palm leaves ( Sanskrit: Pattra ) wrote (see palm-leaf manuscript).

Young plants are a popular food in Ceylon and cultivated for this purpose. Dried and ground, they provide a valuable flour. From the root of Mark to win sago. In Europe one finds the Palmyrapalme often in greenhouses. The species is traded as an ornamental plant.

Swell

• W. Franke: Crop Science, Thieme, Stuttgart- New York, 1997.
• Meyers Lexikon, 4th edition, 1889