Liberia · #1 palm The palm on the Great Seal and coat of arms of Liberia
African oil palm
Elaeis guineensis · locally: oil palm (ang.)
The palm on Liberia’s coat of arms – it gives oil, palm wine and “palm butter”, a thick sauce that is one of the national dishes.
The African oil palm is native to the forests of West and Central Africa and grows to 20 m, with a plume of long, pinnate leaves. It produces heavy bunches made up of hundreds of fruits with orange-red, oily flesh. Red palm oil is pressed from the flesh and palm kernel oil from the seeds, while sap for palm wine is tapped from the cut inflorescences. It is the most productive oil crop in the world.
Significance in the country
The oil palm takes centre stage on the Great Seal of Liberia as a symbol of the country’s wealth and self-sufficiency. Its fruit is used to make palm butter – a sauce served with rice – and in recent years Liberia has become the site of large industrial plantations.
Where it grows
Throughout the country – semi-wild palms grow in secondary forest and around villages, and large plantations lie in Grand Cape Mount, Sinoe, Grand Bassa and Bomi counties, among others.
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