Borassus aethiopum is a species of Borassus palm from Africa. In English, it is variously referred to as African fan palm, African palmyra palm, deleb palm, ron palm, toddy palm, black rhun palm, rônier palm (from the French). It is widespread across much of tropical Africa from Senegal to Ethiopia and south to northern South Africa, though it is largely absent from the forested areas of Central Africa and desert regions such as the Sahara and Namib. This palm also grows in northwest Madagascar and the Comoros.
Description The typical form of Borassus aethiopum is a solitary palm to in height and in diameter at the base. In the river bottoms (floodplains) of many East African rivers (the Rufiji in Tanzania and the Tana in Kenya among others) a closely related form can be up to thick at breast height ( above ground) and having the same thickness in its upper ventricosity. It also has a height of up to .Dr. Al C. Carder, Giant Trees of Western America and the World (Madeira Park, British Columbia, Canada: Harbour Publishing, 2005, ) p. 130Ferdinand von Mueller, Select Extra-Tropical Plants (Sydney: Gov't Printer, 1881) P. 50. Quoting: Lt. Col. James A. Grant and Daniel Oliver, The Botany of the Speke and Grand Expedition (London: R. Taylor, 1875)Reinhard Künkel, Elephants (New York: Harry N. Abrams Inc. Publishers, 1982, ) Color Plate pp. 100-101 Adult elephants give size comparison. Caption (p. 242) mistakenly calls these "oil palms". The fan-shaped leaves are wide (larger, to in the bottomlands form) with petioles long; the margins are armed with spines. In male plants, the small flowers are largely concealed within the scaly catkins; the much larger female flowers reach wide and produce yellow to brown fruits. Each fruit contains one to three seeds, each enclosed within a woody endocarp. The floodplains variety is almost certainly the most massive of all palms, comparable to Jubaea chilensis, the Chilean wine palm.
Uses The tree has many uses: the fruit are edible, as are the tender roots produced by the young plant; fibres can be obtained from the leaves; and the wood (which is reputed to be termite-proof) can be used in construction.Bailey, L.H. & E.Z. Bailey. 1976. Hortus Third i–xiv, 1–1290. MacMillan, New York.
See also Great Mosque of Djenné (an example of the use of the wood in construction)
References
External links
Horticopia page on B. aethiopium PACSOF page on B. aethiopium La Plant Encyclo page on B. aethiopum (in French) Multilingual Multiscript Plant Name Database page on Borassus