Hyphaene compressa | |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Monocots |
Clade: | Commelinids |
Order: | Arecales |
Family: | Arecaceae |
Genus: | Hyphaene |
Species: | H. compressa |
Binomial name | |
Hyphaene compressa | |
Synonyms [2] | |
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Hyphaene compressa, also known as the East African doum palm, is a palm tree in the genus Hyphaene . It is a tree known for its unique branching, unlike most palms which are not branched. [3] This palm tree is very abundant in Eastern Africa and is a vital socioeconomic resource to the rural pastoralist and agro-pastoralists there. [3] [4] [5]
There is a high concentration of Hyphaene compressa along the coasts of Northern East Africa, particularly Kenya and Tanzania. Additional countries with a high distribution of Hyphaene compressa include Somalia, Madagascar and Ethiopia. The palm also occurs to a lesser extent towards the Arabian Peninsula and India. [4] The Doum Palm is densely concentrated around lakes and river ecosystems of the Turkana Valley and surrounding National Parks in Kenya. [5]
The East African doum palm has expanded its range into the United States due to its horticultural interest. [6]
Hyphaene compressa is found in hot and dry climates. [4] The East African Doum Palm flourishes in tropical and subtropical regions with temperatures ranging between 36 and 38 degrees Celsius. [5] The trees are adapted to semi-arid to arid climates with a low annual rainfall of 150 to 600 mm. [5] The trees obtain water by having a high water table in which the trees taproots can access. [3] Hyphaene compressa thrives in direct light in open grasslands and along edges of lakes, swamps, rivers and oceans. [4] The soils of the doum palm are salty, calcareous and alkaline (pH 9) and of general poor quality. [5] The Hyphaene compressa is a woody dioecious tree that is slow growing and long living. Some trees can grow to be 100 years old but because of the high human interference this number is reduced to around 30 years. [3]
Hyphaene compressa is a robust tree that stands erect, growing to about 10–20 meters (35–70 ft) in height. [3] The tree can be said to be fairly fire resistant and drought resistant. [3] The East African Doum Palm is considered difficult to destroy because it grows bulbs and deep taproots underground that will allow the tree to regrow if it is damaged above ground. [3] Individuals of this species are dichotomously branched and the stems may branch about five times by full maturity. [7] Little is known about the dichotomous venation, the only other genera of palms to naturally exhibit this trait are the Dypsis , Korthalsia and Laccosperma . [7] The leaves are medium to large sized palmate or fan shaped and emerge at the top of the tree in small crowns. [8] The spiny leaf stalks and the fruit develop at the base of these crowns.
Fruits of Hyphaene compressa are produced after 30 years of maturation and can be harvested regularly every 6 months when the tree is between 40 and 50 years old. [3] The fruit is considered a drupe [9] and grows almost all year round, taking three to ten months to germinate. [8] The fruits of Hyphaene compressa are eaten by elephants, baboons, and monkeys (endangered Tane River Crested Manbey). [4] Elephants favour eating the Doum palm fruit and have become the major mechanism for seed dispersal in Hyphaene compressa. [3] [10] The fruits are edible by humans and are highly packed with energy. When ripe the fruit appears orange-brown and tastes sweet. The doum palm can produce up to thousands of fruit per tree, each fruit growing 6–12 cm long and 4–9 cm wide. [3]
Almost all of the East African doum palm can be utilised, the most highly used part of the tree being its leaves. [5] Hyphaene compressa has a variety of different uses and is a vital economic resource in rural African communities.
The age the palm leaves are harvested dictate what goods are produced. [5] The stalks of immature palm leaves are split into long strips to make a variety of products such as baskets, mats, chairs, brooms and hats. The leaves can also be beaten and separated into fibers to make hammocks. [5] Mature green leaves are dried and used to cover the roofs of huts, make fire and to also create weaved goods. The uses for these leaves as shelter have expanded to include tourist sites and refugee camps and also with the increase in more permanent settlements in African communities. [5]
The people of Eastern Africa depend on the fruit from the doum palm Hyphaene compressa in different ways. It is popular as a food source, more so during times of food shortage, and is commonly bought and sold in local markets [4] The mesocarp or pulp of the young fruit can be made into a non-alcoholic juice drink which children enjoy. [5] The seed coat within the mesocarp is hard to crack but the nut inside can be eaten or crushed into a powder to flavor other food items. [3]
By incising the stems of older trees, its sap can be made into an alcoholic wine of about 3.6 volume %. [3] This practice is often performed incorrectly by cutting into the stem too deeply which kills the tree. Although, if the sap is extracted correctly, the tree is viable for an additional two to three years. [3] The wines 24hour expiration time and lack of investment into preservation has kept it lost from being economically important. [3] The trunks before the first branching can be made into very sturdy, termite proof building material that includes poles, fences and latrines. [3] Although the fellow Coconut Palm Cocos in the same family of Palms has been very popular as an exported building good, the East African Doum Palm is claimed to be sturdier because of its higher density timber. [3]
The East African doum palm has many different names in native African languages. Boni (Medi); Chonyi (Mkoma); Digo (Mkoma lume); Gabra (Meetti); Giriama (Mlala); Kamba (Mukoma); Kambe (Mkoma); Mbeere (Irara); Orma (Kone); Pokomo (Mkoma); Pokot (Tangayiween); Rendile (Baar); Samburu (Iparwa); Sanya (Auwaki); Somali (Baar); Swahili (Mkoma, Mlala); Taveta (Irara); Tharaka (Muruguyu); Turkana (Eeng'ol) [4]
The presence of the doum palm Hyphaene compressa has increased living standards in rural communities in which the fruit, leaves and stems are monetarily valuable. [5] Weaved products are sold and traded at local and international markets [5] where extreme specificity of skill and craftsmanship can be seen. Subsequently, the marketing and distribution of thatched products creates a niche that requires retailers, wholesales and of course local manufacturers that understand the changing local market. For example, in Turkana, a women's co-operative society has emerged to handle the sales of crafts. [5] Although the East African doum palm has created a source of income for local peoples it is important to note that its economy is not stable or uniform throughout the region. Availability to Hyphaene compressa, ability to effectively utilize its product and skills of the regional people are all limiting factors. [5]
Due to the high importance of the Hyphaene compressa poaching of its leaves in protected National Forests has become an issue. There has been evidence since the 1990s of overexploitation of the trees resources. [5] Improper sap collection practices kill Palm trees and lack of knowledge on how to perform extraction is limiting the Palms longevity. Hyphaene compressa is in the process of being domesticated in some regions in Africa. Conservation laws to protect the tree from being overexploited have also been locally established as to ensure there is a lasting abundance of the East African Doum Palm. [5]
The Arecaceae is a family of perennial, flowering plants in the monocot order Arecales. Their growth form can be climbers, shrubs, tree-like and stemless plants, all commonly known as palms. Those having a tree-like form are called palm trees. Currently, 181 genera with around 2,600 species are known, most of which are restricted to tropical and subtropical climates. Most palms are distinguished by their large, compound, evergreen leaves, known as fronds, arranged at the top of an unbranched stem, except for the Hyphaene genus, who has branched palms. However, palms exhibit an enormous diversity in physical characteristics and inhabit nearly every type of habitat within their range, from rainforests to deserts.
The coconut tree is a member of the palm tree family (Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus Cocos. The term "coconut" can refer to the whole coconut palm, the seed, or the fruit, which botanically is a drupe, not a nut. They are ubiquitous in coastal tropical regions and are a cultural icon of the tropics.
Phoenix dactylifera, commonly known as the date palm, is a flowering-plant species in the palm family Arecaceae, cultivated for its edible sweet fruit called dates. The species is widely cultivated across northern Africa, the Middle East, the Horn of Africa, Australia, South Asia, and California. It is naturalized in many tropical and subtropical regions worldwide. P. dactylifera is the type species of genus Phoenix, which contains 12–19 species of wild date palms.
Sclerocarya birrea, commonly known as the marula, is a medium-sized deciduous fruit-bearing tree, indigenous to the miombo woodlands of Southern Africa, the Sudano-Sahelian range of West Africa, the savanna woodlands of East Africa and Madagascar.
Raffia palms are members of the genus Raphia. The Malagasy name rafia is derived from fia "to squeeze juice". The genus contains about twenty species of palms native to tropical regions of Africa, and especially Madagascar, with one species also occurring in Central and South America. R. taedigera is the source of raffia fibers, which are the veins of the leaves, and this species produces a fruit called "brazilia pods", "uxi nuts" or "uxi pods".
Hyphaene thebaica, with common names doum palm and gingerbread tree, is a type of palm tree with edible oval fruit. It is a native to the Arabian Peninsula and also to the northern half and western part of Africa where it is widely distributed and tends to grow in places where groundwater is present.
Hyphaene is a genus of palms native to Africa, Madagascar, the Middle East, and the Indian subcontinent.
Borassus is a genus of five species of fan palms, native to tropical regions of Africa, Asia, and Papua New Guinea.
Borassus flabellifer, commonly known as doub palm, palmyra palm, tala or tal palm, toddy palm, lontar palm, wine palm, or ice apple, is a fan palm native to South Asia and Southeast Asia. It is reportedly naturalized in Socotra.
In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are usable as lumber or plants above a specified height. In wider definitions, the taller palms, tree ferns, bananas, and bamboos are also trees.
Pycnanthus angolensis is a species of tree in the nutmeg family, Myristicaceae. It is native to Tropical Africa. Its English language common names include African nutmeg, false nutmeg, boxboard, and cardboard. In Africa it is widely known as ilomba.
Inocarpus fagifer, commonly known as the Tahitian chestnut or Polynesian chestnut, is a species of flowering plant in the subfamily Faboideae of the legume family, Fabaceae. The tree has a wide range in the tropics of the south-west Pacific and south-east Asian regions, and a history of traditional use by the peoples of Polynesia and Melanesia. It is the only edible and culturally important member of the genus Inocarpus.
Treculia africana is a tree species in the genus Treculia which can be used as a food plant and for various other traditional uses. The fruits are hard and fibrous, can be the size of a volleyball and weight up to 8.5 kg (19 lb). Chimpanzees have been observed to use tools to break the fruits into small pieces that they can eat. The fruits contain polyphenols.
Hyphaene petersiana, the real fan palm or makalani palm, is a palm tree native to the subtropical, low-lying regions of south central Africa.
Osyris compressa is a facultatively hemiparasitic, mainly South African plant of the sandalwood family, Santalaceae. Until recently, the favoured binomial name was Colpoon compressum, but around 2001, the genus Colpoon was included in Osyris on the basis of comparative DNA studies. That assignment is not final, however, and according to the Kew Gardens plant list, Colpoon compressum P.J.Bergius, though still in review, is the accepted name.
Nypa fruticans, commonly known as the nipa palm or mangrove palm, is a species of palm native to the coastlines and estuarine habitats of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the only palm considered adapted to the mangrove biome. The genus Nypa and the subfamily Nypoideae are monotypic taxa because this species is their only member.
Cordia sinensis is a species of flowering tree in the borage family, Boraginaceae. The species’ range extend from South Africa, through East Africa, Madagascar, West Africa and the Middle East to the Indian Subcontinent and Eastern Indochina. There is also a disjunct native population in Senegal. The species has become naturalised in Eastern Australia. Common names include grey-leaved saucer berry, grey-leaved cordia, marer, mnya mate, mkamasi and tadana.
Caryota mitis, known as the clustering fishtail palm or fishtail palm, is a species of palm native to Tropical Asia from India to Java to southern China, now sparingly naturalized in southern Florida and in parts of Africa and Latin America. The species was originally described from Vietnam in 1790. In Florida, it grows in hummocks and in disturbed wooded areas.
Raphia farinifera is a tropical African palm tree occurring in lowland riparian and swamp forest, also around human habitations and cultivated locations, on stream banks and other moist situations at altitudes of 50–1000 m. Found in Angola, Benin, Burkina, Cameroon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Nigeria, Réunion, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe, and naturalised in east lowlands of Madagascar. Its generic epithet is derived from raphis = 'needle', probably in reference to the 4 mm long yellowish spines on the margins and main veins of the leaflets. The specific name refers to a type of starchy flour obtained from the trunk pith – farina = 'starch', fera = 'bearing'.
Borasseae is a tribe in the palm subfamily Coryphoideae. The tribe ranges from southern Africa and Madagascar north through the Arabian Peninsula to India, Indochina, Indonesia and New Guinea. Several genera are restricted to islands in the Indian Ocean. The two largest genera, Hyphaene and Borassus, are also the most widespread.