Umbrella Palm, Or Corypha

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

Umbrella palm, or Corypha (lat. Corypha) - a genus of flowering plants of the family Arecaceae (lat. Arecaceae), or Palm (lat. Palmaceae). Most of the species of this genus are monocarpic plants, that is, giving the world their ripe fruits, the palm itself dies. Corypha is famous for the length of its inflorescences, which can reach seven and a half meters. To keep up with such a length of inflorescences is beyond the power of any other plant on our planet. So, Corypha is the leader among all plants on Earth, giving birth to millions of small flowers to fill such a long inflorescence.

Description

All species of the genus Corypha are slender palms with a straight trunk, twenty to forty meters in height and a trunk diameter of one to two and a half meters. The surface of the trunk can be grooved or wrinkled. It takes many years for the plant to form a powerful trunk, since the palm tree grows very slowly.

Thick petioles, protected by prickly needles, are two to five meters long and support large fan-shaped leaves, consisting of numerous leaflets. The leaves are located at the top of the trunk, forming a picturesque crown.

At the very top of the stem, rising above the lush crown of fan-shaped leaves, huge cob-panicle inflorescences are born, formed by millions of small hermaphrodite (bisexual) flowers with white or green color. The inflorescences exude a strong odor. In terms of the size of its inflorescences, the umbrella palm is the leader among all flowering plant species on our planet.

The fruit of the palm tree is a spherical berry with only one seed inside. This pays off with a large number of berries, which have replaced the numerous flowers of large inflorescences.

The slow growth of the palm tree is possibly due to the fact that Corypha refers to the so-called monocarpic plants, whose life stops at the moment when their fruits are fully ripe and ready for procreation. It is believed that if you remove the inflorescences before they begin to degenerate into fruits, then you can extend the life of the palm, if necessary.

Varieties

There are five plant species in the Corypha genus:

* Umbrella corypha (lat. Corypha umbraculifera) is a palm tree with the largest inflorescences on the planet. It bears fruit once every 60 years, after which it dies. The fruit takes a whole year to fully ripen. Palm leaves are used for manuscripts, for making umbrellas, as straw. Palm wine is prepared from the juice of the leaves.

* Corypha lecomtei (Latin Corypha lecomtei) - this species is endangered. It grows only in Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia. Its leaves up to four meters long have been used for manuscripts since ancient times. The length of the petioles (8 meters) is twice the height of the palm itself. At the age of 15 to 30 years, the palm tree blooms once, bears fruit and dies.

* Corypha microclada (Latin Corypha microclada) is an endangered species. It grows only in the Philippines.

* Corypha taliera (lat. Corypha taliera) is an endangered species that Asian botanists-enthusiasts are trying to save by growing seedlings from the seeds of dead plants.

* Corypha utan (lat. Corypha utan) - this species is better known under the names "Gebang Palm", or "Palm Cabbage". It is a fan palm tree with a twenty-meter trunk and palm branches from four to six meters in diameter. Like its relatives, the palm tree blooms only once, which happens towards the end of its life. But it blooms so powerfully, showing the world five-meter inflorescences formed by a million small flowers. This species is the most impressive of the other types of palm trees growing in Australia.

Leaves use

Leaves of all types of palm trees are used to weave various things, including hats. For this, three types of fibers are made from the leaves: buntal, storms and raffia. In the Philippines, there is even a celebration of Buntal hats every May, which are made from "tempest" fibers.