1

A MAGNIFICENT AND WONDERFUL TREE OF THREATENED CATEGORY

Plant kingdom is classified into Angiosperms and Gymnosperms. Angiosperms are further
classified into Dicotyledons and Monocotyledons. The family Palmae comes under
Monocotyledons. Palmae family includes many species of economic importance. Palmyrah,
Date, Sago, Caryota and many other palms are valued for their sweet neera, fruits, starch
and other decorative plant parts. The palms attract the attention of the horticulturists,
foresters and nature lovers by their elegance and grandeur. The grace and splendour of
palms probably made Carl Linnaeus, the world famous Botanist, call them Princess of the
vegetable kingdom.

Palms like Caryota urens, Phoenix species, Arenga wightii, Pinanga dicksoni, Areca catechu,
Bentinckia conddapanna, Calamus species, Corypha umbraculifera, etc. occur in natural
stands in Tamil Nadu. The palms are classified into three groups namely cultivated,
ornamental and wild.

The palm tree bearing the trade name of Talipot palm is known as Kodai-panei in Tamil.
Corypha umbraculifera is its scientific name. This is categorized as Threatened species by
International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). If any species is likely to become an
endangered species within the foreseeable future, then it is called Threatened species.

Though it is said to be cultivated in certain parts like Andamans and N.Kanara of India,
Srilanka, Myanmar, etc., mostly it occurs wild in nature. It is common on Malabar coast. One
tree is found in Royal Botanical Garden of Calcutta.

Two such trees are found in flowering in the premises of Ayyanarappan temple in Padiri
village about 15 kms from Tindivanam on the eastern side of Viluppuram-Chennai road. The
height of the tree is assessed to be about 80 feet. The discreet enquiry with an elderly
person by name Thandavarayan of 76 years of the village reveals that the tree is of about 80
years old. Though there are four such trees near the temple, the two matured trees are only
in flowering.

This is the most majestic and wonderful of the palm tribe. The tree is as big as a Ship Mast.
It is one of the largest palms in the world. The Talipot palm bears the largest inflorescence
of any plant. Each of its enormous fan-like leaves can shelter ten men from the rain.

The leaves are used for thatching and the sap is tapped for making palm wine. In Malabar
Coast, the leaves of this tree were used to make traditional umbrellas for farm labourers
and students in rural areas till a few decades ago. The tree is known as Kudapana in
Malayalam, which means umbrella palm tree. The leaves of this tree are useful to make
fans, mats, etc. The leaves were used for writing before the coming of the palmyrah leaves.
The fruit is of round form, greyish olive and about the size of 3.8 cm. diam. The horny
globose seeds have hardness of ivory and are known as Bajurbet or Bazarbetu nuts which
are made into necklaces, buttons, beads, etc.
 2

The pith yields a kind of sago used as food. Talipot palm is monocarpic, an interesting
character noticed. It flowers only once when it is about 30 to 80 years old sending up a
gigantic spadix, which produces seeds in such large profusion (averaging 254 kgs. per tree),
that the tree gets exhausted subsequently and dies. The tree, when in blossom bears the
cone of golden coloured flowers of about 20 high, which when ripe, bursts with a loud
noise and diffuse a disagreeable smell. It is on account of this, the natives do not place their
huts near the tree.

PHOTO 1: TWO TALIPOT PALMS (CORYPHA UMBRACULIFERA) FOUND IN FULL BLOOM IN

AYYANARAPPAN TEMPLE OF PADIRI VILLAGE NEAR TINDIVANAM

PHOTO 2: TALIPOT PALM WITH GOLDEN COLOUR FLOWERS

Photos by V.Sundararaju captured on 30.6.2015.

The tree produces thousands of round, dark green fruits of 3-4 cm diameter, with a single
seed in each fruit. The rare tree in flowering will be of great interest for the Botanists,
Horticulturists and other Nature lovers. This species is drought tolerant and very slow
growing. This palm being giant in size, is suitable for very large gardens and parks as it
develops into a huge plant. Once established means, it is very hardy to adverse conditions.
This tree species is slowly vanishing due to urbanization.

One such tree found in flowering in Seegampatti village near Thuvarankurichi of Tiruchy
district last year is found in fruiting now. If the tree is propagated through seeds collected
 3

on time, definitely, it will be a great deed of conservation towards protecting the

biodiversity.

V.Sundararaju.I.F.S.,

Former District Forest Officer (Kanyakumari Forest Division),

Tamil Nadu, India.

Mail id: sundarifs.raju@gmail.com

www.sofcon.org

Mobile:9443170366.