Corypha

This article is about the plant genus. For the bird genus, see Corypha (bird).

"Buri palm" redirects here. For the Brazilian palm, see Polyandrococos.

Corypha
Corypha umbraculifera painting (1913)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Monocots
Clade:	Commelinids
Order:	Arecales
Family:	Arecaceae
Subfamily:	Coryphoideae
Tribe:	Corypheae
Genus:	Corypha L.
Synonyms [1]
BessiaRaf. Codda-PanaAdans. nom. illeg. DendremaRaf. GembangaBlume TalieraMart.

Corypha or the gebang palm, buri palm or talipot palm is a genus of palms (family Arecaceae), native to India, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, New Guinea and northeastern Australia (Cape York Peninsula, Queensland). They are fan palms (subfamily Coryphoideae), and the leaves have a long petiole terminating in a rounded fan of numerous leaflets.

All are large palms with leaves ranging from 2–5 metres in length. They reach heights of 20–40 m and with a trunk diameter of up to 1-2.5 m. All the species are monocarpic and die after flowering. The genus is relatively slow growing and can take many years to form a trunk.

Species include: ^[2]

Flower	Name	Common name	Distribution
	Corypha lecomtei Becc. ex Lecomte		Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia
	Corypha microclada Becc.		Philippines
	Corypha taliera Roxb.		India: West Bengal, Bangladesh, Myanmar
	Corypha umbraculifera L.	Talipot palm	Sri Lanka, southern India; naturalized in Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar, Andaman Islands, Mauritius
	Corypha utan Lam.(syn. C. elata, C. gebang)	Gebang palm, buri palm or cabbage palm	India: Assam, Andaman Islands, Indochina, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, New Guinea, Australia: Queensland, Northern Territory

Gallery

• 
  A traditional Filipino buntal hat made from buri palm Corypha (gebang palm, buri palm or talipot palm, genus of palms (fanily Arecaceae)
• 
  Buri palm with fruits
• 
  Old Sundanese gebang manuscript, Sanghyang Raga Dewata, from Museum Sri Baduga collection in West Java, Indonesia

Uses

In the Philippines, buri trees, like the sago palm, are used as sources of starch made into starch balls called landang. These are traditionally cooked into various desserts and dishes, most notably the binignit. ^[3]

The leaves are often used for thatching or can be woven into baskets, etc. Three kinds of fibres, namely buri (unopened leaf fibers), raffia (mature leaf fibers), and buntal (leaf petiole fiber), may be obtained from the plant. The midrib of the leaves are also used for weaving hats in the Philippines known as calasiao hats. ^[4] The Buntal Hat Festival is celebrated in Baliuag, Bulacan yearly every 6th of May. ^{[5] [6]}

References

1. "World Checklist of Selected Plant Families" . Retrieved 16 May 2014.
2. "The Plant List: A Working List of All Plant Species" . Retrieved June 5, 2014.
3. Cabello, Nathan (31 March 2015). "Cebuano Binignit". The Freeman. Retrieved 2 July 2016.
4. Pickard, Edward T. (21 October 1929). "Philippine Production and Foreign Trade in Hats". Commerce Reports (40): 154–156.
5. Philippine Travel Blog: Buntal Hat festival launched in Baliuag Bulacan Archived 2012-12-26 at the Wayback Machine
6. The Philippine Star: Baliuag celebrates buntal weaving

• PACSOA: Corypha index
• PACSOA: Corypha utan in Australia
• Kunth, Karl Sigismund Corypha miraguama, Nov. Gen., 1816, 1, p. 298. Accessed 2012-8-4.
• The Old Market Gardens and Nurseries of London — No. 10, (52 MB file from archive.org) Journal of Horticulture, Cottage Gardner v. 57, 29 March 1877, p. 238. Accessed 2012-7-31. The Journal records John Fraser as bringing Corypha miraguama back from Cuba in 1807. See also Kunth, 1816, same location.