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Palmyra palm (Borassus flabellifer)
Photo: Franz Xaver, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons

On the map in 2 countries palm symbol: Cambodia

Palmyra palm

Borassus flabellifer

Family: Arecaceae

On our map this plant appears in 2 countries and ranks highest in: Cambodia, Myanmar.

The palmyra palm is a tall palm (up to 30 m) with a straight, dark trunk and a crown of stiff, fan-shaped leaves. It bears large, dark purple fruits with jelly-like, sweetish flesh. Sweet sap is collected from the cut inflorescences and boiled down into brown palm sugar or fermented into light palm wine. The leaves are used for thatching and weaving baskets, and in the past as a material for writing sacred texts.

Description from: Cambodia.

More: Wikipedia (en) Wikipedia (pl) Plants of the World Online (Kew)

Significance in each country

  1. Cambodia no. 2 of 5 native

    National tree of Cambodia

    The sugar palm is Cambodia’s national tree and a visual symbol of the Khmer countryside – it grows on the dykes between rice paddies, and its silhouette appears in logos, on postcards and in art.

  2. Myanmar no. 7 of 10 native

    The toddy palm is everywhere in Myanmar’s central dry zone, where climbers go up into the crowns every day to collect the sap – it is made into “htan nyat”, a sweet palm sugar eaten after meals, and the mildly alcoholic “htan ye”.