Nypa fruticans
Habit | palm-cycad
| |
---|---|---|
Lifespan: | ⌛ | perennial |
Water: | ◍ | wet, moist |
---|---|---|
Features: | ✓ | evergreen |
Nipa > |
Wurmb > |
If this plant info box on watering; zones; height; etc. is mostly empty you can click on the edit tab and fill in the blanks!
Nypa fruticans, known as the Attap Palm (Singapore), Nipa Palm (Philippines), and Mangrove Palm or Nipah palm (Indonesia, Malaysia), Dừa Nước (Vietnam), Gol Pata (Bangladesh), Dani (Burma) is the only palm considered a mangrove. This species, the only one in the genus Nypa, grows in southern Asia and northern Australia. 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,[1] testifying to much warmer climatic conditions in the British Isles at that time.
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.
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. Nypa fruticans is an endangered species in Singapore.
ExpandRead about Nypa fruticans in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture
|
---|
Cultivation
Propagation
Pests and diseases
Varieties
Gallery
References
- Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture, by L. H. Bailey, MacMillan Co., 1963
External links
- w:Nypa fruticans. Some of the material on this page may be from Wikipedia, under the Creative Commons license.
- Nypa fruticans QR Code (Size 50, 100, 200, 500)