PALMS
alms are perhaps the most striking plants in tropical floras. Their often tall, usually straight, unbranched, woody stems topped by a spreading crown of long-stalked, sometimes huge, featherlike, or fanlike pleated leaves distinguish them from nearly all other forms of vegetation. The palm family is the only family in the order Arecales and is one of the oldest of flowering plants. The palms' fossil record traces back to the Triassic Period, about 220 million years ago. Strict application of the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature would make Arecaceae the valid name for the palm family, but the name Palmae has been accepted as a legitimate alternative. The palm family comprises nearly 2,500 species in 200 or more genera. They are widely distributed in the tropics and subtropics; very few species occur in warmer temperate regions. Most palm species occur in Asia (about 1,385 species), particularly in the Indo-Malayan region, and in tropical America (about 1,147 species), especially in northeastern South America. Only about 117 species are native to Africa.
One of the hardiest of the tree palms is the windmill palm, Trachycarpus fortunei, of eastern Asia, which is cultivated outdoors in milder maritime climates as far north as Norfolk, Va., and Vancouver, Canada. The most cold-tolerant palm is the needle palm, Rhapidophyllum hystrix, of the southeastern United States: it has been known to survive temperatures of -21 deg C (-6 deg F).
In addition to the commonly recognized treelike forms, which may reach 30 m (100 ft) high, there are those with prostrate or creeping stems (Rhapidophyllum), those with stems completely underground (Nypa), and those with vinelike stems (Desmoncus). The long, thin, ropelike stems of the rattan palms, Calamus and Daemonorops, which may climb 60 m (200 ft) into the treetops, are the rattan cane used commercially. The leaves of the raffia palms, Raphia, are the largest in the plant kingdom, exceeding 20 m (65 ft) in length, and are the source of raffia fiber.
Palm flowers are typically small and may be borne singly, in pairs, in threes (triads), in small clusters (cincinni), in small lines (acervuli), or in large clusters (panicles). The flower cluster, or inflorescence, is enclosed by a bract that ranges from thick and woody to paper thin. This serves to protect the inflorescence and allow it to develop to maturity with little outside interference, such as animal or insect predation. Palm flowers may be bisexual but are usually unisexual. Palm trees are usually monoecious, bearing both male and female unisexual flowers on the same tree, but some species are dioecious, with separate male and female trees, or polygamous, with both unisexual and bisexual flowers on the same tree. Palm fruit is botanically a berry, nut, or drupe, depending in part upon the structure of the flower ovary. The COCONUT (with husk) is a drupe, a fruit technically like that of the peach but dry and fibrous instead of fleshy.
Since prehistory, palms have provided thatch for shelter; fibers for weaving, plaiting, and basketry; timber for constructing buildings, tools, and utensils; leaves for clothing and food; and sap for beverage. Throughout tropical Asia the commonest palm product in use is the fruit of the betel-nut palm, Areca catechu, which is chewed as a narcotic stimulant. The sap drawn from tapping the unopened flower bracts of several kinds of palms produces palm wine or toddy, as from Caryota urens; an alcoholic beverage called arrack, from Cocos nucifera; or sugar, from Borassus flabellifer and Arenga pinnata. Foremost among African palms is the date, Phoenix dactylifera, cultivated since ancient times throughout the Middle East. Nearly all developed countries currently depend greatly on a few palm species for oils (Elaeis, Cocos) and less so for fiber (Cocos, Coccothrinax, Leopoldinia), waxes (Copernicia), and sweets (Cocos). Michael J. Balick
Bibliography: Balick, M.J., ed., The Palm--Tree of Life (1988); Balick, M.J., and Beck, H.T., eds., Useful Palms of the World (1990); Corner, E. J. H., The Natural History of Palms (1966); Fox, James J., Harvest of the Palm: Ecological Change in Eastern Indonesia (1977); Langlois, A. C., Supplement to Palms of the World (1976); Uhl, N.W., and Dransfield, J., eds., Genera Palmarum (1987).
The banana family consists of large plants that flourish in moist areas throughout the tropics. The edible fruit is rich in carbohydrates and is a source of vitamins A and C and the minerals potassium and phosphorus. The most familiar banana is the yellow-skinned, sweet, pulpy fruit of international trade. Of the many varieties, only a few are widely grown and only two are exported. Wild banana plants tend to spring up where tropical forest has been felled or burned.
Bananas are a significant food crop in the tropics. From 80 to 85 percent of the world's banana crop is grown locally on what agriculturalists call a "backyard scale" for domestic consumption. Consumers in the tropics not only eat the raw, ripe fruit but also cook bananas as a starchy vegetable food similar to the potato. Some are fermented to make beer, and others are dried. In upland East Africa, especially in the Buganda province of Uganda, bananas even attain the status of a staple foodstuff.
Origin and Types
Bananas originated primarily in Malaysia and the neighboring archipelago probably about 4,000 years ago. Diversity developed over a much wider area, from India to the Philippines and New Guinea. About 2,000 years ago, travelers carried bananas eastward through the Pacific and westward across the Indian Ocean to tropical Africa. Shortly after the discovery of America, Europeans took banana plants from Africa or the Canary Islands to Hispaniola (modern Haiti and the Dominican Republic).
The banana family, Musaceae, contains only two genera, Ensete and Musa. They range in height from 1 m (3 ft) to more than 9 m (30 ft) and are actually gigantic herbs. What looks like the trunk of a banana plant is neither woody nor a true stem. The true stem is underground, and the above-ground portion is called a pseudostem. Even when as large as 60 cm (2 ft) across, the pseudostem is made solely of overlapping, concentric leaf sheaths wrapped tightly.
A slender flowering stalk several centimeters across grows up through the center of the pseudostem and bears a terminal cluster of flowers. The flowers emerge from a purple bract and are tubular, with yellow petals. When plants are in the wild state, bees and bats pollinate the female flowers, each of which produces a banana. Wild banana fruit is seedy and inedible; the edible, cultivated types are seedless because they are set without POLLINATION and have evolved sterility.
A Southeast Asian species, Musa textilis, supplies the Philippine Islands with a principal export--Manila HEMP, or abaca. In parts of Ethiopia the 6-m (20-ft) leaves of E. ventricosum provide building material, fiber, and a starchy food. Several of the smaller species of Musa are grown as ornamentals.
World Production and Trade
The world crop of bananas (including plantains, which are never reliably distinguished in statistics) is not accurately recorded; estimates vary from about 35 million to more than 40 million metric tons. Many countries, including those in Africa, consume most of what they grow. Banana exporters, who supply the North American and European markets, are led by Brazil, which is by far the world's largest producer. India follows, growing somewhat less than half of Brazil's crop. The Philippines, Ecuador, Colombia, and Honduras are also important producers. In the United States only Hawaii grows significant amounts. The United States is the world's leading banana importer. Banana shipments are transported in special refrigerator units.
From small beginnings in the early years of the 19th century, the trade became important toward the end of the century, aided by the development of fast refrigerated sea transport, improved local transport in the producing countries (such as Central American railways), and vertical integration of production from plantation to point of retail. The United Fruit Company, formed in 1899, became the first big international name in the export business; in 1970 it was merged into United Brands. Standard Fruit and Steamship Company was established in 1923 as a competitor; since 1968 it has been a subsidiary of Castle and Cook. Del Monte Corporation entered the banana trade in 1968 by purchasing the West Indies Fruit Company. Large landholdings and one-crop economies made the multinational companies important influences in some Latin American countries, particularly in the early days of the banana industry.
The export trades have always been based on only two basic varieties: Gros Michel (or Martinique) and several mutants (called "sports") of the Cavendish banana. Dwarf or semi-dwarf mutants of the latter have been especially important because they can be planted densely and are less susceptible to damage by wind than are tall bananas. In the early days, fruit bunches, especially of Gros Michel, were mostly shipped unwrapped; parceling, or wrapping of bunches, was also practiced by some trades, but today most fruit is cut and boxed for transport. Fruit is always cut and carried green and ripened just before delivery to retail stores by the use of ethylene gas in special chambers.
Diseases
Export production has been bedeviled by epidemic diseases promoted by large-scale monoculture. Panama disease, or banana wilt, caused by a soil-borne fungus; Sigatoka disease, or leaf-spot, caused by an airborne fungus; bacterial wilt; banana nematode; and bunchy-top, caused by a virus, have contributed substantially to the fluctuations in the banana trade's economic fortunes. Efforts are being made to breed new, disease-resistant varieties. N. W. Simmonds
Bibliography: Reynolds, P. K., The Banana: Its History and Cultivation (1977); Simmonds, N. W., Bananas, 2d ed. (1978 repr. 1982).
Betel {beet'-ul}, or betel pepper, Piper betle, is a vine native to southern Asia. Many people of southern Asia and neighboring Pacific islands smear the fresh leaves of this plant with slaked (water-treated) lime and pieces of betel nut, which is the seed of the betel palm, Areca catechu. This mixture is chewed like chewing tobacco to obtain a mild stimulation and sense of well-being, produced by an alkaloid in the nut. The practice is not habit-forming, but it stains the saliva and teeth red or brown, and the nut may be carcinogenic. In veterinary medicine, the nut is sometimes used for deworming. Charles H. Styer
Cabbage palmetto, Sabal palmetto, is a tall tree native to the southeastern United States. A member of the palm family, Palmae, it grows to 20 m (66 ft) or more in height and inhabits marshes, prairies, pinelands, and hammocks. The common name refers to the cabbagelike structure of the young leaf buds, which are edible. The trunks are used for dock pilings because they are resistant to teredos and wood worms.
The coconut is the fruit of the most economically important member of the great PALM family, Palmae. The genus Cocos is Southeast Asian and contains only one species, C. Nucifera. Cultivated in tropical lowlands, almost always near the sea, the coconut has long been distributed throughout Southeast Asia and along the tropical African and American coasts. Much of its propagation has occurred through the distribution of its fruits--which can remain viable in seawater for several weeks--by ocean currents.
The coconut tree grows to 30 m (98 ft) in height and may live as long as 100 years. It has a single (terminal) growing point that produces huge pinnate leaves, or fronds, and yellow or white flowers that form the fruit bunch. The fruit is a large, single-seeded drupe with a hard stony "shell"and a fibrous husk. The abundant liquid inside the shell becomes solid and oily to form the coconut meat, which is subsequently dried to make commercial COPRA. The leading producers and exporters of copra are islands in the Pacific, especially some of those in Oceania, Malaysia, and the Philippines.
The coconut forms the very basis of life for many people, particularly in the Pacific area. Its liquid provides food and drink; the shell, domestic utensils and fiber; the leaves, thatch and plaiting. The wood is often the only available timber, and the sap bled from its bud produces a sweet drink, alcoholic beverages, and sugar syrup.
Because of its high content of saturated fatty acids and its good keeping quality, coconut oil was a principal ingredient of margarine and cooking and salad oils, as well as in soap and shampoo manufacture. However, health concerns have reduced the use of saturated fats in foods, and use of coconut oil in edible products has declined. N. W. Simmonds
Bibliography: Ohler, J. G., Coconut, Tree of Life (1985).
The date palm, Phoenix dactylifera, of the palm family, Arecaceae, has long been a staple carbohydrate food for Arab peoples. Its origins are obscured by its long history in cultivation throughout the Old World arid belt. Date stones from 4500 BC have been found in Egypt, and ancient remains from India and Ur have also been found. The plant was probably domesticated independently in several parts of its range. It was introduced into China from Iran about 1,700 years ago and was taken to California by the Spanish in the 17th century. It does well in dry, hot climates.
P. dactylifera is a tall, unbranched feather palm with a crown of up to 100 leaves. Fruiting occurs after about 5 years. Loosely branched male and female blossoms grow from the crowns of separate trees, and pollination is encouraged by placing severed male blossoms among the females--an ancient technique that requires much climbing. Machinery now exists to blow pollen up through a tube. Pollen from different males differs in its effects on the fruit's color, size, and ripening qualities. Most plantation palms are female, the pollen output of 1 male plant normally being sufficient to pollinate up to 50 females. Female blossoms are pruned to ensure that all fruit reaches a reasonable size, and they are often bagged to reduce damage by birds and insects. If adequately fertilized, a good palm may yield more than 90 kg (200 lb) of dates.
Dates are sweet, fleshy drupes, marketed in three categories. Soft dates are harvested when still soft and unripe. Most of the world trade is in soft dates from the Middle East. Semidry dates, from firmer-fleshed cultivars, are also picked before maturity. Deglet Noor, the most important U.S. variety, is of this type. Dry dates, sun-dried on the trees, are eaten in North Africa and Arabia, sometimes softened with milk, often ground as a flour.
Arrack, an alcoholic beverage, is made by mixing ground dates and water. Another type of arrack is made from the sap of the tree. Ground and roasted date pits are used as a coffee substitute, and the trunk and leaves supply material for rope and basket fibers. P. M. Smith
Bibliography: Food and Agriculture Organization, Date Production and Protection (1982); Simon, Hilda, The Date Palm (1978).
The name palmetto refers to nearly 20 species of PALMS in the genus Sabal of the family Palmae. These fan-leaved palms are native to the southeastern United States, Bermuda, the West Indies, and northern South America. Palmetto leaves are used for thatching roofs, and the buds of some species, known as palm hearts, are eaten.
Plantain is the common name both for a type of banana and a family of annual herbs. The name is most widely applied to a subspecies of the BANANA, Musa paradisiaca, whose large fruit is starchier than ordinary bananas and must be cooked before it is eaten. Plantains, eaten boiled or fried, or dried and ground into meal or flour, are a staple food in tropical countries where bananas may also be grown.
The plantain herbs, Plantago in the family Plantaginaceae, comprise more than 200 species that are distributed worldwide, mostly in temperate regions. Most familiar in North America are the broadleaf plantain, P. major, a garden weed with low-growing, oval, ribbed leaves and tall, leafless seed spikes, and English plantain, or rib grass, P. lanceolata.
Sago {say'-goh}, a starch prepared from the pith of several species of palm trees belonging to the CYCAD family, is a yellowish flour that is a staple food of the southwest Pacific. In Europe, sago is used as a thickener in cooking and as textile sizing in industry. Sago palms are native to Indonesia and constitute one of the most important wild food plants in the swamps of New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. The starch is exported primarily from Borneo. For export, the pith is pulverized, washed, strained, and dried in pans over a fire to produce pellets called pearl sago.
Similar to tapioca, sago is more commonly used in Europe than in the United States. Because it is easily digested it is often used in foods prepared for invalids. Frances Gies
_Copyright (c) Grolier Electronic Publishing, Inc._
THANKS FOR VISITING! GOD BLESS YOU!
