25
Caryota urens L.
Synonym : No synonyms are recorded
for this name
Family
: Arecaceae
Local Names
: Chundapanna, Olatti,
Elephant’s palm, Jaggery Palm
Flowering and fruiting period: January – April
Distribution: Indo-Malesia
Habitat: Evergreen forests, also in the
plains
IUCN status: Least Concern
Endemic: No
Uses: The fibres are manufactured
into ropes, brushes, brooms, baskets. From the pith a good variety of
"sago" is obtained which is highly nutritious. Toddy is also obtained
from this palm. Terminal bud is edible.
Key Characters: Monoecious stout tall palms,
trunk smooth with prominent annular leaf-scars.
Leaves bipinnate. Spadix
interfoliar, shortly peduncled, pendulous; spathes few. Flowers many, in triads with female flower in
the middle. Sepals 3, rounded, imbricate. Petals linear-oblong, valvate. Stamens many.
Ovary 3-celled, 3-gonous; ovule 1-per locule. Fruit globose, reddish purple; seeds
plano-convex, subreniform.
