fruits & vegetables :: NATIVE, WILD, CULTIVATED :: Arecaceae » Borassus flabellifer

[Dinesh Valke]

Arecaceae (palm family) » Borassus flabellifer
Synonym: Borassus flabelliformis


bor-RAS-us -- from the Greek borassos, referring to the date palm's flower spike  
fla-BEL-lif-er -- fan-bearing, referring to the leaf


commonly known as: African fan palm, borassus palm, doub palm, great fan palm, lontar palm, palmyra palm, ron palm, tala palm, tal-palm, toddy palm, wine palm • Bengali: তাল taala • Gujarati: તાડ taad • Hindi: ताड़ taada, ताल tala, त्रृणराज trinaraaj • Kannada: ಓಲೆಗರಿ olegari, ತಾಳೆಗರಿ taalegari, ತಾಟಿನಿಮ್ಗು taatinimgu • Konkani: इरोळ eroal • Malayalam: കരിമ്പന karimpana • Marathi: ताड taada • Sanskrit: महातः mahatah, तलः or तालः talah, तन्तुनिर्यासः tantuniyosah, तृणम्केतुः tranam-ketuh, तृणम्राजः tranam-raj, तृणम् इन्द्रः trnam-indrah• Tamil: பனை panai • Telugu: తాటి చెట్టు tatichettu • Urdu: تاڙ taad


Native to: tropical Asia


Edible use:

... peeled seedlings as FRUIT ... are eaten fresh
... young plants are cooked as a VEGETABLE or roasted and pounded to make meal

... When the crown of the tree is removed, the segment from which the leaves grow out is an edible cake.

Quoted from Wikipedia

some facts:

... can live 100 years or more (yet fruit) ... Wikipedia

Symbolic status:

State Tree of Tamil Nadu, India

[mani nair]

The toddy is made from this palm.

Regards,

Mani.

On Mon, Jan 3, 2011 at 12:03 AM, Dinesh Valke <dinesh...@gmail.com> wrote:

Arecaceae (palm family) » Borassus flabellifer
Synonym: Borassus flabelliformis


bor-RAS-us -- from the Greek borassos, referring to the date palm's flower spike  
fla-BEL-lif-er -- fan-bearing, referring to the leaf

commonly known as: African fan palm, borassus palm, doub palm, great fan palm, lontar palm, palmyra palm, ron palm, tala palm, tal-palm, toddy palm, wine palm • Bengali: তাল taala • Gujarati: તાડ taad • Hindi: ताड़ taada, ताल tala, त्रृणराज trinaraaj • Kannada: ಓಲೆಗರಿ olegari, ತಾಳೆಗರಿ taalegari, ತಾಟಿನಿಮ್ಗು taatinimgu • Konkani: इरोळ eroal • Malayalam: കരിമ്പന karimpana • Marathi: ताड taada • Sanskrit: महातः mahatah, तलः or तालः talah, तन्तुनिर्यासः tantuniyosah, तृणम्केतुः tranam-ketuh, तृणम्राजः tranam-raj, तृणम् इन्द्रः trnam-indrah• Tamil: பனை panai • Telugu: తాటి చెట్టు tatichettu • Urdu: تاڙ taad

[Muthu Karthick]

The timber is used for rafters; leaf-base fibre is used as brushes, etc 1,20,000litres of toddy is produced by a single tree in its lifetime; ripe fruits are eaten roasted.

There are as many as 801 uses are recorded for this Palmyra palm in an old Tamil song, as quoted by D.J.Mabberley. I would be happier if anyone of you here knew that Tamil literature.

--
Muthu Karthick, N
Junior Research Fellow
Care Earth Trust

#15, second main road,

Thillai ganga nagar,
Chennai - 600 061

Mob: 09626833911
www.careearthtrust.org

[Vijayasankar]

Thanks Muthu, for the question, which i had in my mind since long.

Now i got a hint about the literature/song while browsing the net thru a document which i have attached herewith. I am thankful to those who put lot of effort to get the answer, it was not that easy i understand. You may like to read this interesting article.

But then, how to get that full song? let's keep trying...

 

Regards

 

 

Vijayasankar Raman, Ph.D.
Post Doctoral Research Associate
National Center for Natural Products Research
Thad Cochran Research Center
University of Mississippi, Oxford, MS 38677
Phone: +1 662 915 1018