Caryota L. (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Caryota L.

Protologue: Sp. pl.: 1189 (1753), Gen. pl. ed. 5: 497 (1754).

Family: Palmae

Chromosome number: 2n= 28 (C. urens); 2n= 32 (C. mitis); 2n= 34 (C. cumingii)

Major species and synonyms

• C. cumingii Loddiges ex Martius, Hist. nat. palm. 3: 315 (1853), synonym: C. merrillii Beccari (1905);

• C. mitis Loureiro, Fl. Cochinch.: 569 (1790);

• C. rumphiana Martius, Hist. nat. palm. 3: 195 (1838), synonyms: C. maxima Blume ex Martius (1838), C. no Beccari (1871), C. aequatorialis Ridley (1925);

• C. urens L., Sp. pl.: 1189 (1753).

Vernacular names

• General: Fishtail palm (En)
• Cambodia: 'ânnsaè
• Thailand: taorang
• Vietnam: móc.

• C. cumingii : Philippines: pugahan (Filipino), anibong (Tagalog), anivung (Ibanag).

• C. mitis : Indonesia: genduru (Javanese), saray (Sundanese), bulung talang (Kalimantan)
• Malaysia: merdin, dudok, rabuk
• Philippines: pugakang-suuy (Filipino), barukan (Tagbanua), bato (Tagbanua)
• Cambodia: 'ânnsaè tô:ch
• Laos: ta:w h'a:ngz
• Thailand: taorang-daeng (southern), khuangmu (northern)
• Vietnam: dùng dình.

• C. rumphiana : Indonesia: nibung besar (Moluccas), suwangkung (Sundanese), andudu (Balinese)
• Malaysia: rabuk gunung, baroh
• Philippines: takipan-tilos (Filipino), bagsang (Bisaya), anivung (Ibanag)
• Thailand: taorang-yak (southern)
• Vietnam: móc nương.

• C. urens : Faux sagoutier (Fr)
• Cambodia: 'ânnsaè
• Laos: ta:w h'a:ngz
• Thailand: taorang (central, southern)
• Vietnam: móc den, dùng dình ngứa.

Origin and geographic distribution

The genus Caryota occurs from Sri Lanka, India and southern China southwards throughout South-East Asia to northern Australia and the Solomon Islands. C. urens has probably been dispersed by man from India and Sri Lanka to Thailand and Vietnam. Further south-east C. rumphiana takes its place, in the Philippines together with C. cumingii and in Indonesia together with C. mitis .

Uses

Caryota species are multi-purpose palms. The trunk yields starch (larger specimens are favoured for this). As the bark is very hard, the starch is only harvested in times of food scarcity. Inflorescences may be tapped for sugar or palm wine, especially those of the tallest species C. rumphiana and C. urens . The palm cabbage (apex) is usually bitter and can only be eaten cooked. The fruits and seeds are edible but the mesocarp contains irritating needle-like crystals. The seeds may be used as a masticatory, instead of the seeds of Areca catechu L.

Leaf sheath fibre ("kittul") is durable and often harvested for thatch, cordage, and to make brushes and brooms. The woolly hairs on leaf sheaths, petioles and rachis are often used as tinder or as wadding. They may also be used to caulk wooden boats. The finer fibre can also be spun into fishing lines or coarse threads for sewing.

Timber of C. urens is used for construction and agricultural utensils. All species have ornamental value and are often planted as such.

Production and international trade

Caryota species are rarely traded beyond the local market, and no production statistics are available. Sri Lanka exports kittul fibre from C. urens .

Properties

The chemical composition of the palm-sap jaggery (crude sugar) per 100 g is: protein 1.8-2.3 g, sucrose 76.6-83.5 g, reducing sugars 0.8-0.9 g, pectin, gums, etc. 6.6-8.3 g, ash 1.7-2.0 g.

Fermented sap contains 3-4% alcohol, 1% reducing sugar, and 0.3% acetic acid.

The wood is very hard. The bark has attractive black and white venation.

Description

Moderate to tall, solitary or clustering, hapaxanthic, monoecious, unarmed palms. Stem with elongated internodes, surrounded at first by persistent fibrous leaf bases and sheaths, later on becoming bare and conspicuously ringed with narrow leaf scars. Leaves induplicately impari-bipinnate (pinnate in juveniles); sheath triangular, disintegrating into strong black fibres, surface covered with a dense felty indumentum and caducous dark brown scales; petiole scarcely to well developed, channeled above, rounded below; leaflets very numerous, borne regularly along the secondary rachises, obliquely wedge-shaped with more or less equal larger veins that diverge from a swollen base, upper margins very irregularly toothed. Inflorescence axillary, starting at the top of the stem and continuing downwards, solitary, bisexual, subtended by several bracts at the base of a single peduncle, terminating in many simple pendent branches; flowers arranged in triads, usually one female between two males, the latter open and are shed before the female flowers; flowers 3-merous; male flowers usually elongate and with numerous (up to 100) stamens; female flowers usually globular, with 0-6 staminodes and trilocular ovary. Fruit globose, 1-2-seeded, smooth, variously coloured; mesocarp fleshy and filled with abundant very irritant needle-like crystals; endocarp not differentiated. Seed irregularly subspherical with ruminate endosperm; germination remote-tubular.

• C. cumingii : Solitary slender palm, 5-8 m tall, up to 20 cm in diameter. Leaves up to 1.5 m long, petiole very short, pinnae about 10 on each side of the midrib, up to 1 m long; leaflets up to 20 cm long. Inflorescence up to 80 cm long, peduncle 3 cm in diameter, branches up to 50 cm long; stamens 6, flowers small. Fruit purple, 12-17 mm in diameter, containing 1 globose seed.

• C. mitis : Strongly tillering palm, 5-12 m tall, 5-15 cm in diameter. Leaves 2-4 m long, petiole 50-100 cm long; leaflets 7-25 cm × 2.5-15 cm. Inflorescence 25-50 cm long; peduncle curved, 10-15 cm long; branches 25-45 cm long; stamens 15-27. Fruit orange to dark red, 7-15 mm in diameter, 1-seeded, densely punctate.

• C. rumphiana : Robust solitary palm, 10-25 m tall, 20-45 cm in diameter. Leaves 4-6 m long, petiole long; pinnae in 10-20 subopposite pairs, 50-150 cm long; leaflets 20-45 cm × 5-20 cm. Inflorescence 0.5-2 m long; peduncle long, up to 10 cm in diameter; branches 50-175 cm long; stamens about 40. Fruit dark red, 2-3 cm in diameter, 1-3-seeded.

• C. urens : Robust solitary palm, 13-20 m tall, up to 45 cm in diameter. Leaves up to 6 m long, petiole long and robust; pinnae 1.5-1.8 m long; leaflets 10-20 cm long. Inflorescence 3-4 m long; branches 35-40 cm long; stamens 40-45. Fruit reddish, about 2 cm in diameter, 1-2-seeded.

Growth and development

At the end of the vegetative period (after the last leaf has unfolded), the trunk starts flowering from the uppermost leaf axil bud downwards. C. urens grows for about 15 years, then starts flowering from the crown downwards to the base for 5-10 years. After the last inflorescence has fruited the palm dies. During the fruiting period, which may last several years, the starch accumulated in the trunk is used to fuel flowering. Any persisting leaves also produce carbohydrates for flowering and fruiting.

Other botanical information

The genus Caryota (about 12 species) is closely related to the genera Arenga Labill. (about 17 species) and Wallichia Roxburgh (about 7 species) with which it forms the tribe Caryoteae in the subfamily Arecoideae ; all are distributed in South-East Asia (with extensions to India and southern China). The three genera can easily be distinguished: Caryota has bipinnate leaves, bisexual inflorescences, usually numerous stamens and ruminate endosperm; Arenga and Wallichia have pinnate leaves, normally unisexual inflorescences, and homogeneous endosperm; Wallichia has 6 stamens, Arenga numerous. Caryota is due for taxonomic revision, because the identity of most species is not clear. C. rumphiana is very variable; in the Philippines two varieties are distinguished: var. philippinensis Beccari (identical to C. maxima Blume ex Martius) and var. oxyodonta Beccari. In Peninsular Malaysia a form has been described as: C. obtusa Griffith var. aequatorialis Beccari, which is identical to C. aequatorialis Ridley.

Ecology

Caryota is found in subhumid to humid climates, from sea-level up to about 2000 m, in secondary and primary forests.

Propagation and planting

Propagation is only by seed. In Sumatra, seed of C. rumphiana is said to germinate only after ingestion by a palm civet ( Paradascursus sp., "luak").

Husbandry

Only C. urens is cultivated commercially, mainly in Sri Lanka and India and occasionally in Peninsular Malaysia. The other species are wild, but often cultivated in gardens for ornamental purposes.

Harvesting

Before reaching maturity, selected inflorescences are prepared for tapping by beating with a wooden stick and are then tied with a string to keep them in a proper shape. If possible, a number of inflorescences are tied together. A concoction of herbs, salt and ash may be applied to the tip of the inflorescence. Tapping begins 3-4 days later by making a fine angular slash. A receptacle, usually a piece of bamboo, is hung under the tapping point to catch the sap. The inflorescence is cut afresh in the morning and evening for 3-4 months, until none remains. In India lime or powdered bark of tannin-rich trees is added to the collection pots, to prevent early fermentation.

Yield

In C. urens , daily sap yield per inflorescence is 7-14 l, or 20-27 l per palm. Total annual yield per palm may amount to 675-810 l containing 13.5% sucrose and a trace of reducing sugars. This corresponds to 90-110 kg of sugar.

Handling after harvest

After harvest the sap may be boiled in an open pan to produce jaggery. If the sap is allowed to ferment for 12 hours it turns into a pale or cloudy wine with a rather sour taste. Fermented toddy may still be boiled down to a thick syrup and be preserved as a treacle. The treacle can be allowed to crystallize to form a sweetmeat. Fibre from the leaf sheaths becomes very pliable after being steeped in linseed oil.

Genetic resources and breeding

No germplasm collections or breeding programmes are known to exist for Caryota .

Prospects

Only C. urens is promising for the production of carbohydrates. Stands of wild species may easily be depleted in times of famine, because of the exploitation for starch or palm cabbage. The ornamental value of all species is an important argument for preservation.

Literature

• Corner, E.J.H., 1966. The natural history of palms. Weidenfeld & Nicholson, London, United Kingdom. pp. 286-289.
• Dissanayake, B.W., 1977. Use of Caryota urens in Sri Lanka. In: Tan, K. (Editor): Sago 1976. Proceedings of the 1st International Sago Symposium: The equatorial swamp as a natural resource, 5-7 July 1976, Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia. Kemajuan Kanji Sdn Bhd, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. pp. 84-90.
• Johnson, D.V., 1977. Distribution of sago making in the old world. In: Tan, K. (Editor): Sago 1976. Proceedings of the 1st International Sago Symposium: The equatorial swamp as a natural resource, 5-7 July 1976, Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia. Kemajuan Kanji Sdn Bhd, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. pp. 147-153.
• Ochse, J.J. & Bakhuizen van den Brink, R.C., 1980. Vegetables of the Dutch East Indies. 3rd English edition (translation of "Indische Groenten", 1931). Asher & Co., Amsterdam, the Netherlands. pp. 559-562.
• Uhl, N.W. & Dransfield, J., 1987. Genera palmarum. The L.H. Bailey Hortorium and the International Palm Society. Allen Press, Lawrence, Kansas, United States. pp. 314-316.

Authors

M. Flach & H.C. Ong