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Corypha utan

Species of palm

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Corypha utan, the cabbage palm, buri palm or gebang palm, is a species of palm native to Asia and Oceania.

01Description

It grows up to 20 metres (66 feet) tall, and, on the Cape York Peninsula of Queensland, up to 1.5 meters (4 feet 11 inches) thick (exceeded only by Borassus aethiopum and Jubaea chilensis) and bears palmate fronds 4 to 6 m (13 to 20 ft) long. Like other palms of the genus Corypha, this species flowers once at the end of its lifetime (monocarpy), producing a massive inflorescence up to 5 m tall containing up to one million flowers.

02Distribution and habitat

It is distributed from the Assam region of India through Indochina, Malaysia, and Indonesia to the Philippines and New Guinea, and south to Australia's Cape York Peninsula and Arnhem Land. Growing along watercourses, floodplains and grasslands, the Palm and Cycad Societies of Australia write about the Corypha utan palms occurring in Cape York:

Corypha utan .. is undoubtedly one of the most imposing species in the Australian palm flora (with its massive pachycaul trunks and hapaxanthic flowering and fruiting extravaganza.

03Uses

The starch contained inside the trunk is edible raw or cooked, as is the tip-top. The flowering stalks can be beaten to produce liquid. The nut kernels are also edible.

In Lamakera, its (ketebu) leaves are made into fibres weaved with sea hibiscus bark to make rope for whaling harpoons.

Locally known as buri or buli in the Philippines, the leaves of Corypha utan are widely used in weaving fans, baskets, and mats. Additionally, in Isla Verde, Batangas where this palm tree grows abundantly, Corypha utan sap is extracted, cooked and made into the sweet delicacy called "Pakaskas".

Watch videos about Corypha utanExplainers and documentaries on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article Corypha utan, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

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