Hyphaene coriacea

Lala palm
In Maspalomas Botanical Garden, Gran Canaria
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Monocots
Clade:	Commelinids
Order:	Arecales
Family:	Arecaceae
Genus:	Hyphaene
Species:	H. coriacea
Binomial name
Hyphaene coriacea Gaertn., 1788
Synonyms
Hyphaene natalensisKuntze

Hyphaene coriacea, the lala palm or ilala palm ^[1] is a species of palm tree native to the eastern Afrotropics. ^[2] It occurs in eastern Africa from Somalia to Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa, and is also found in the coastal flats of Madagascar and on Juan de Nova Island in the Mozambique Channel Islands.

Description

A clustering palm, usually found in groups of 2-6 but sometimes appearing solitary. The trunk grows 1-6 m tall and 10-20 cm in diameter, typically unbranched but occasionally branched, covered in old leaf bases forming a criss-cross pattern.

The crown has 9-20 leaves, spreading with recurved rachis, reaching up to 1.8 m. The open leaf sheath is up to 40 cm long, waxy brown with fibrous margins. The petiole measures 60-97 cm, widening at the base and narrowing distally, with black triangular spines up to 1 cm long. The leaf blade is about 70 cm long and 112 cm wide, divided into 39-55 segments with filaments at the sinuses. The outer segments are 31-48 cm long, central ones 40-58 cm, with faint minor veins covered in scattered reddish scales.

Male inflorescences are interfoliar, branched to two orders, with solitary or grouped rachillae 9-36 cm long. Flowers have greenish corolla lobes, yellow anthers, and a small pistillode. Female inflorescences are interfoliar, 60-120 cm long, branched to one order with 2-5 pendulous rachillae. Female flowers have slightly obovate petals, thin staminodes, and a globose ovary.

The fruit is irregularly top-shaped, 5-6 cm high and 4-6 cm in diameter, on a hairy pedicel up to 12 mm long. The mesocarp is fibrous, and the endocarp is hard and woody. The seed is about 2.7 cm wide with a homogeneous endosperm and a central hollow. ^[3]

Uses

The spongy pulp of the hard, brown fruit is edible and the fruit is eaten and sold in Madagascar ^[4] and in eastern Africa; its Swahili name is Mkoma. The flavour has been compared to raisins and raisin bran.

See also

• Fan palm

References

1. "Hyphaene coriacea - Palmpedia - Palm Grower's Guide".
2. Glen, H.F.; Reynolds, Yvonne. "Hyphaene coriacea Gaertn". PlantZAfrica.com. SANBI. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
3. Dransfield, J. (1995). The Palms of Madagscar. Los Angeles Arboretum Foundation, Arcadia, CA, U.S.A.: J. Dransfeild, H. Beentje. ISBN   9780947643829.
4. "Lala Palm Tree - Hyphaene coriacea - Zimbabwe, Angola..." www.krugerpark.co.za. Retrieved 9 February 2021.