Dypsis decipiens

(Becc.) Beentje & J. Dransf.

Manambe palm

ArecaceaeLeavesShoots

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What to Eat

Edible parts: Palm heart, Cabbage, Vegetable

Leaves - cooked. The apical bud, known as a 'palm heart', is eaten as a vegetable. Eating this bud leads to the death of the plant because it is unable to make side-shoots.

Where to Find It

A subtropical plant. It grows on rocky sites between 1400-2000 m altitude in Madagascar. It suits the subtropics. It needs good drainage. It suits a frost less Mediterranean climate. It can stand light frost and tolerate drought.

Africa, Australia, East Africa, Madagascar*, North America, USA,

Countries: Antigua & Barbuda, Angola, Australia, Barbados, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Benin, Bahamas, Botswana, Belize, Canada, Congo (DRC), Central African Republic, Congo (Republic), Cote d'Ivoire, Cameroon, Costa Rica, Cuba, Cape Verde, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Algeria, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Grenada, Ghana, Gambia, Guinea, Equatorial Guinea, Guatemala, Guinea-Bissau, Honduras, Haiti, Jamaica, Kenya, Comoros, St Kitts & Nevis, St Lucia, Liberia, Lesotho, Libya, Morocco, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Malawi, Mexico, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Nicaragua, Panama, Puerto Rico, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sudan, Sierra Leone, Senegal, Somalia, South Sudan, Sao Tome & Principe, El Salvador, Eswatini, Chad, Togo, Tunisia, Trinidad & Tobago, Tanzania, Uganda, United States, St Vincent, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe

How to Identify

A clustering palm. It can be solitary but often has younger shoots at the base. It grows 6-20 m high. The trunk is fattened in the middle. It is 30-40 cm across at the base then 50-70 cm in the middle and 25-30 cm across near the crown. It has a ringed trunk and a crown-shaft. The leaves are feather shaped and re-curved. The leaflets point upwards. The flower stalks bearing yellow flowers appear below the crown-shaft. The fruit are round and about 2 cm across.

How to Grow

The seeds germinate in about 8 weeks.

Medicinal Uses

The plant (parts not specified but probably the bark and/or the fruits) is used in the treatment of headaches, jaundice and hepatitis; and also as an aid to lactation.

Production

They are slow growing.

Notes

There are 140 Dypsis species.

Names & Synonyms

Betefaka, Sihara leibe

Chrysalidocarpus decipiens Becc.Macrophloga decipiens (Becc.) Becc.

References (8)

Dransfield, J. & Beentje, H., 1995, The Palms of Madagascar. Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew and The International Palm Society. p 191
Gibbons, M., 2003, A pocket guide to Palms. Chartwell Books. p 101
Grubben, G. J. H. and Denton, O. A. (eds), 2004, Plant Resources of Tropical Africa 2. Vegetables. PROTA, Wageningen, Netherlands. p 561
Hibbert, M., 2002, The Aussie Plant Finder 2002, Florilegium. p 90
Johnson, D.V., 1998, Tropical palms. Non-wood Forest products 10. FAO Rome. p 113
Riffle, R.L. & Craft, P., 2003, An Encyclopedia of Cultivated Palms. Timber Press. p 328
The palms of Madagascar 191. 1995
World Checklist of Useful Plant Species 2020. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew