Nypa fruticans

Nypa fruticans Temporal range: 70 Ma PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓ Late Cretaceous - Recent
Nipa palms along a tidal river at Maitum, Sarangani, Philippines
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Monocots
(unranked):	Commelinids
Order:	Arecales
Family:	Arecaceae
Subfamily:	Nypoideae
Genus:	Nypa Steck
Species:	N. fruticans
Binomial name
Nypa fruticans Wurmb

Nypa fruticans, commonly known as the nipa palm, is a species of palm native to the coastlines and estuarine habitats of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the only palm considered adapted to the mangrove biome. This species is a monotypic taxon, the only one in the genus Nypa and the subfamily Nypoideae.^[1]

Description

The trunk or stem of the nipa palm is under the mud. Only the leaves project upwards

A globular flower cluster on a nipa palm

A globular fruit cluster of the nipa palm

The nipa palm has a horizontal trunk that grows beneath the ground and only the leaves and flower stalk grow upwards above the surface. Thus, it is an unusual tree, and the leaves can extend up to 9 m (30 ft) in height. The flowers are a globular inflorescence of female flowers at the tip with catkin-like red or yellow male flowers on the lower branches. The flower yields a woody nut, these arranged in a cluster compressed into a ball up to 25 cm (10 in) across on a single stalk. The ripe nuts separate from the ball and are floated away on the tide, occasionally germinating while still water-borne.

Names

Nypa fruticans is also known as attap (Singapore), nipa (Philippines), buah atap (Indonesia), buah nipah (Malaysia), dừa nước (Vietnam), ging pol (Sri Lanka), gol pata (West Bengal, Bangladesh), and dani (Burma).

Distribution

Nipa palms grow in soft mud and slow-moving tidal and river waters that bring in nutrients. The palm can be found as far inland as the tide can deposit the floating nuts. It is common on coasts and rivers flowing into the Indian and Pacific Oceans, from Bangladesh to the Pacific Islands. The plant will survive occasional short-term drying of its environment. It has become naturalised on the Atlantic side of Panama's coast.

Uses

The long, feathery leaves of the nipa palm are used by local populations as roof material for thatched houses or dwellings. The leaves are also used in many types of basketry and thatching. Large stems are used to train swimming in Burma as it has buoyancy.

On the islands of Roti and Savu, nipa palm sap is fed to pigs during the dry season. This is said to impart a sweet flavour to the meat. The young leaves are used to wrap tobacco for smoking.

Food and beverages

In the Philippines and Malaysia, the flower cluster (inflorescence) can be tapped before it blooms to yield a sweet, edible sap collected to produce a local alcoholic beverage called tuba, bahal or tuak. Tuba can be stored in tapayan (balloon vases) for several weeks to make a kind of vinegar known as sukang paombong in the Philippines and cuka nipah in Malaysia. Tuba can also be distilled to make arrack, locally known as lambanog in Filipino and arak in Indonesian.

Young shoots are also edible and the flower petals can be infused to make an aromatic tisane. Attap chee (Chinese: 亞答子; pinyin: yà dá zǐ) ("chee" meaning "seed" in several Chinese dialects) is a name for the immature fruits—sweet, translucent, gelatinous balls used as a dessert ingredient in Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore.

Biofuel

The nipa palm has a very high sugar-rich sap yield. Fermented into ethanol or butanol, the palm's large amount of sap may allow for the production of 6,480-15,600 liters (per year) of fuel per hectare. Sugarcane yields 5,000–8,000 liters per hectare (per year) and an equivalent area planted in corn would produce just 2000 liters (per year) per hectare.

Fossil record

Fossil mangrove palm pollen has been dated to 70 million years ago. Fossilized nuts of Nypa dating to the Eocene epoch occur in the sandbeds of Branksome, Dorset, and in London Clay on the Isle of Sheppey, Kent,^[2] testifying to much warmer climatic conditions in the British Isles at that time.

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Nypa fruticans

1. ^ John Leslie Dowe. Australian Palms: Biogeography, Ecology and Systematics. p. 83. http://books.google.com.vn/books?id=Fk5ud3uuLW8C&pg=PA83&lpg=PA83&dq=Nypoideae&source=bl&ots=GLh89V2U04&sig=-rXN3kSbWv1-bOs8xgcDThEfC84&hl=vi&sa=X&ei=ekWRT4iCJ4TeigfavvSJBA&ved=0CDIQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=Nypoideae&f=false. Retrieved April 20, 2012. 
2. ^ plant_material

• Nypa fruticans in West African plants - A Photo Guide.