African Fan Palm

Boni(ong), Chonyi(mnazi), Digo(mvumo), Duruma(mugumo), English (Borassus palm, Palmyra palm, deleb palm), Giriam(mugumo), Malakote(murifate), Meru(mungithi), Orma(marafa), Somali(mardafa), Swahili(mchapa), Teso (edukut)

Description

A strikingly tall unbranched palm to 25 m high. Trunk is smooth to rough, grey, widening high up above the middle. The leaf scars prominent immediately below crown, less prominent below.

Leaves are fan-shaped, very large to 2.5 m long, upper leaf divided into many folded leaf segments.

Flowers are green; dioecious.

Fruits are large, up to 15 cm along by 12 cm wide, smooth, slightly elongate, orange to orange-brown, containing up to 3 seeds surrounded by a fibrous pulp.

They are widespread throughout the less dry areas of tropical Africa, open grassland with a high water-table, along watercourses, flood pains, coastal coral sands and often in dense stands.Found at the coast in Kenya e.g. Kilifi.

Uses

Fruit pulp and seed edible e.g by the Giriama. The immature seeds are eaten. Germinating seedlings are reportedly eaten (Uganda).

Excellent palm wine, dzova (Digo) is made from sap tapped from inflorescence stalks. It is reputedly the best palm wine in Africa with a high sugar content (Uganda).

Other

Leaves are used in the mat and basketry industry. The trunk is tough & termite-resistant.

It is used as poles, in construction and as beehives.

Management

Propagated by seed which are best sown directly on site. Grows fast when young but very slowly later.

Fallen seeds root easily in humid soil. Root develops well before shoot is seen.

Remarks

Another palm used for wine production is Elaeis guineensis English (Guinea oil palm), Swahili (mjenga). It is a tree palm to 15 m high. Young stems covered with persistent leaf bases which are shed with age leaving ridges of scars on the trunks.

Leaves are dark green, long, borne in a terminal crown. Leaflets with spiny margins.

Flowers are monoecious, borne in the leaf axils.Riverine. Uses: An important oil crop (seeds) in West Africa but not in Kenya. Oil is used in the manufacture of margarine, soap an as a lubricant. Palm wine is tapped from the palm in Uganda and West Africa but not in Kenya. Unlike Borassus, the wood is not durable. A rare species in Kenya.

Another important palm is Cocos nucifera English(Coconut palm),Swahili(nazi). The palm is grown all over the tropics in hot humid coastal areas and has been cultivated for a long time. In Kenya it's mainly grown along the coastal strip & in few inland areas as an ornamental plant e.g. Lake Victoria.

An important source of wine, food, thatching material, building poles, fuelwood, shade, oil, leaves for handicrafts & a host of other traditional uses. The oily extract from the coconut flesh, tui(Swahili), is used for flavouring food.

It is added to the dish only in the last 5-10 min of cooking to avoid boiling and curdling.