Borassus flabellifer

Borassus flabellifer

Commonly called toddy palm, it is a tall fan palm of Africa, India, Cambodia and Malaysia yielding a hard wood and sweet sap that is a source of palm wine and palm sugar; leaves used for thatching and weaving, the stems used for building houses - essentially, all parts of the tree are useful. It is called Thatichettu and the young fruit that is edible is called Munjulu in Telugu.

Asian palmyra

Common names

• Tal (Bengali)
• Palmyra-palm (England)
• Borasse (French)
• Borassuspalme (German)
• Shan ye shu tou lu (Chinese)
• Taad (Sanskrit)
• Parumira yashi (Japanese)
• Doub palm
• Tala or tal palm
• Toddy palm
• Wine palm
• Ice apple

Use

All parts of the tree are used in many areas, especially in India including the roots, leaves, sap, fruit, and the stem for either food, thatching or wood.

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  Preparation of Borassus flabellifer seeds in a road stall (Myanmar)

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  Toddy or palm wine collection pot, India

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  Edible jelly seeds of palmyra palm, Guntur, India

Leaves

The leaves of this palm are wide and can be used as a roof, or for weaving.

Fruit

The young fruits are eaten as food called Munjulu in Telugu and the ripe fruit also eaten or used to make palm sugar or palm jaggery

Roots

In the Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Bihar, and in Jaffna, Sri Lanka, the seeds are planted and made to germinate and the fleshy stems are boiled or roasted and eaten. It is very fibrous and nutritious.

Local names: It is known as Thegalu (తేగలు) or Gaygulu (గేగులు) or Gengulu (గెంగులు) (especially in Telangana) in Telugu, as Panai Kizhangu or Panangkizhangu (பனங்கிழங்கு) in Tamil, and as htabin myiq (ထန်းပင်မြစ်) in Myanmar.

Toddy

The sap of the plant is extracted and used as a mild intoxicating drink called toddy, also called kallu in Telugu.

Borassus flabellifer

Classification

Kingdom	Plantae - Plants
Subkingdom	Tracheobionta - Vascular plants
Superdivision	Spermatophyta - Seed plants
Division	Magnoliophyta - Flowering plants
Class	Liliopsida - Monocotyledons
Subclass	Arecidae
Order	Arecales
Family	Arecaceae / Palmae - Palm family
Genus	Borassus L. - borassus palm
Species	Borassus flabellifer L. [excluded] - toddy palm

Borassus flabellifer seedlings

Species

• Borassus flabelliformis L.
• Borassus flabelliformis Roxb.
• Borassus sundaicus Becc.
• Borassus tunicatus Lour.
• Lontarus domestica Gaertn. nom. illeg.
• Pholidocarpus tunicatus (Lour.) H.Wendl.
• Thrinax tunicata (Lour.) Rollisson

Borassus-flabellifer

Nutritional information on Borassus flabellifer

NB:Carbohydrate, by difference(total carbs-fiber) is also called net carbs