Trees & Shrubs Codexery

Corypha umbraculifera

Palm with the world's largest inflorescence; dies after fruiting.

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Corypha umbraculifera

Ji-Elle · CC BY-SA 3.0

This palm bears the largest inflorescence of any plant, 6 to 8 m long.[1] The talipot palm, known scientifically as Corypha umbraculifera, has its natural range in the eastern and southern parts of India and in Sri Lanka.[2] Within the genus Corypha, there are five species that are currently considered accepted, and C. umbraculifera is one of them.[2]

Scientific classification

  1. CladeTracheophytes
  2. CladeAngiosperms
  3. CladeMonocots
  4. CladeCommelinids
  5. OrderArecales
  6. FamilyArecaceae
  7. GenusCorypha
  8. SpeciesCorypha umbraculifera

Named by L.

Sources: Wikipedia taxobox: Corypha umbraculifera (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Conservation status

Data Deficient (DD)

Data Deficient: there is not enough information to place this species on the risk scale.

Population trend
Not held in our sources — see the assessment
Assessment published
1998

Source: IUCN Red List assessment · GBIF copy of the Red List category

How big is it?

Size comparison: Corypha umbraculifera and a personA 8 m long corypha umbraculifera drawn to scale next to a 1.8 m tall person. Schematic shapes, not a likeness.8 m1.8 m

Largest length in the source, 8 m, next to a 1.8 m person.

Diagram: drawn by Codexery, schematic shapes to scale (not a likeness). Length: Wikipedia: Corypha umbraculifera

Where the corypha umbraculifera has been recorded

Where the corypha umbraculifera has been recorded7 mapped locations from 97 GBIF occurrence records

Each dot is a place where the species has been observed and reported (97 records, half-degree grid) — not a modelled range. 34 inland records left out (institution coordinates).

Map: drawn by Codexery. Data: GBIF occurrence search (records CC0 / CC BY) · Natural Earth basemap (public domain)

Biology and range

Each fruit contains a single seed.[1] Some individual plants of this species have been documented reaching a height of 25 meters and a stem diameter of 1.3 meters.[3] This species is a fan palm whose palmate leaves can be as large as 5 meters across, with a petiole reaching 4 meters in length and as many as 130 leaflets.[3] C. umbraculifera* is a monocarpic plant, meaning it flowers just a single time, which occurs when the tree is between 30 and 80 years old.[1]

After flowering, the fruit requires roughly one year to ripen; the tree then produces many round, yellow-green fruits, each 3 to 4 cm in diameter.[1] Following the production of fruit, the plant perishes.[1]

What the specialist sources record

The FAO report describes the talipot palm as a majestic and wonderful variety of the palm tribe, according to Mr. Sundararaju.[4] In Cambodia, where the palm is called tréang, it was historically employed extensively for inscribing religious texts.[5] More recently, practitioners of traditional medicine and fortune-tellers have utilized the leaf material.[5]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Corypha umbraculifera" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Rafinesque, Constantine Samuel. 1938. Sylva Telluriana. Mantis Synopt. New genera and species of trees and shrubs of North America p 13, Bessia sanguinolenta; Linné, "Caroli Linnaei ... Species plantarum :exhibentes plantas rite cognitas, ad genera relatas, cum differentiis specificis, nominibus trivialibus, synonymis selectis, locis natalibus, secundum systema sexuale digesta (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Corypha umbraculifera" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "World Checklist of Selected Plant Families: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew", wcsp.science.kew.org; "Corypha L. Plants of the World Online Kew Science", Plants of the World Online (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Corypha umbraculifera" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Dominica Botanic Gardens" (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Talipot palm in full bloom, FAO reports: tropical palms, palm products , palms with development potential. facts only, no text reused. thehindu.com
  5. Wikipedia, "Corypha umbraculifera" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Pauline Dy Phon, "Plants Utilised In Cambodia/Plantes utilisées au Cambodge", Imprimerie Olympic, 2000, p. 174 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Corypha umbraculifera (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

Related entries

Same family (Arecaceae)

Borassus flabellifer Borassus flabellifer, Chrysalidocarpus lutescens Chrysalidocarpus lutescens

Named in this entry

Arecaceae

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Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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