Caryota urens L.

Caryota urens L.

Know our Plant

Systematic Classification:

Division   : Angiospermae 
Class      : Moncotyledons
Order      : Arecales
Family     : Arecaceae
Genus      : Caryota
Species    : urens

Common name:

Solitary fishtail palm, Kitul palm, Toddy palm, Wine palm, Sago palm , Jaggery palm.

General Information:

Caryota urens is a species of flowering plant in the palm family, native to Sri Lanka, India, Myanmar and Malaysia (perhaps elsewhere in Indo-Malayan region), where they grow in fields and rainforest clearings, it is regarded as introduced in Cambodia. It is a solitary-trunked tree that measure up to 15 m (49 ft) in height and up to 30 cm (12 in) wide. Widely spaced leaf-scar rings cover its gray trunk which culminate in a 6 m (20 ft) wide, 6 m tall leaf crown. The bipinnate leaves are triangular in shape, bright to deep green, 3.5 m (11 ft) long, and held on 60 cm (24 in) long petioles. The obdeltoid pinnae are 30 cm long with a pointed edge and a jagged edge. The 3 m (9.8 ft) long inflorescences emerge at each leaf node, from top to bottom, producing pendent clusters of white, unisexual flowers. The fruit matures to a round, 1 cm (0.39 in) drupe, red in color with one seed. Like all Caryotas, the fruit contains oxalic acid, a skin and membrane irritant. As these plants are monocarpic, the completion of the flower and fruiting process results in the death of the tree.

Economic Importance:

  • It is the source of kithul treacle, a liquid jaggery .Toddy is extracted from the inflorescence, and is considered some what powerful compared to toddy extracted from few other palm trees.
  • Pulp of the fully grown up plant is cut, sun dried, powdered and is edible. It is sweet in taste.
  • Elephants are fed both the leaf and the pulp of this plant.
  • The fruit, when its stiff hairs are removed, is pleasant and sweet to eat, and, as elsewhere, the Cambodians cut the stalks to make sugar, which in turn can be made into wine.