Arenga pinnata (Sugar palm)

Life > eukaryotes > Archaeoplastida > Chloroplastida > Charophyta > Streptophytina > Plantae (land plants) > Tracheophyta (vascular plants) > Euphyllophyta > Lignophyta (woody plants) > Spermatophyta (seed plants) > Angiospermae (flowering plants) >  Monocotyledons >  Order: Arecales > Family: Arecaceae

This palm is indigenous from India through to Indonesia. Sap is collected from where the male (or sometimes female) flower clusters have been cut off, with up to 1800 litres of sap collected per tree per year. The sap contains sucrose and is boiled down to yield palm sugar (known as gula or jaggery). About 150 kg of sugar can be obtained from 1800 litres of sap. The sap is also fermented to produce palm wine or toddy and this can be distilled to produce palm spirit (termed arrack) (van Wyk 2005).

Publications

• van Wyk, B.-E. 2005. Food Plants of the World - Identification, Culinary Uses and Nutritional Value. Briza, Pretoria.