Dypsis oreophila — Edible Plant Database

What to Eat

Edible parts: Palm heart, Vegetable

Leaves - cooked. The palm heart (apical bud) is reported to be an excellent vegetable. Harvesting this heart leads to the death of the individual stem since it is unable to produce side shoots.

Where to Find It

A tropical plant. It grows in forest between 500-1700 m altitude in Madagascar.

Africa, East Africa, Madagascar,

Countries: Angola, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Benin, Botswana, Congo (DRC), Central African Republic, Congo (Republic), Cote d'Ivoire, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Djibouti, Algeria, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Gambia, Guinea, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Comoros, Liberia, Lesotho, Libya, Morocco, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sudan, Sierra Leone, Senegal, Somalia, South Sudan, Sao Tome & Principe, Eswatini, Chad, Togo, Tunisia, Tanzania, Uganda, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe

How to Identify

A clustering palm native to Madagascar's forests, growing 2-8 m high with a slender trunk only 3-4 cm across, found at 500-1700 m altitude in tropical conditions.

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.

Wikipedia

Source ↗

Dypsis oreophila is a species of flowering plant in the family Arecaceae. It is found only in Madagascar. It is threatened by habitat loss.

Notes

There are 140 Dypsis species.

Names & Synonyms

Fitsiriky, Kindro, Lafaza

Neodypsis gracilis Jum.Phloga gracilis (Jum.)H. Perrier

References (5)

Dransfield, J. & Beentje, H., 1995, The Palms of Madagascar. Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew and The International Palm Society. p 226
Grubben, G. J. H. and Denton, O. A. (eds), 2004, Plant Resources of Tropical Africa 2. Vegetables. PROTA, Wageningen, Netherlands. p 290
Johnson, D.V., 1998, Tropical palms. Non-wood Forest products 10. FAO Rome. p 114
van der Burg, W.J., 2004. Dypsis baronii (Becc.) Beentje & J.Dransf. [Internet] Record from Protabase. Grubben, G.J.H. & Denton, O.A. (Editors). PROTA (Plant Resources of Tropical Africa), Wageningen, Netherlands. < http://database.prota.org/search.htm>. Accessed 15 October 2009.
World Checklist of Useful Plant Species 2020. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew