Dypsis perrieri
(Jum.) Beentje & J. Dransf.
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What to Eat
Edible parts: Palm heart, 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 tropical plant. It grows in valley bottoms between 150-800 m altitude in Madagascar.
Africa, Australia, East Africa, Madagascar,
How to Identify
A massive stocky palm. It is squat and solitary. It can be 2-8 m high. The trunk is 20-30 cm across.
How to Grow
Although this can become quite a large palm, it is still essentially a palm of the understory, so it prefers a shady position, and it also likes lots of water. The plant has a crown of erect leaves that trap and collect leaf litter and other organic matter that falls from the forest trees. This litter servers a built-in compost heap to nourish the plant.
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.
Notes
There are 140 Dypsis species.
Names & Synonyms
Besofina, Kase, Menamosona
References (6)
- Dransfield, J. & Beentje, H., 1995, The Palms of Madagascar. Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew and The International Palm Society. p 351
- Grubben, G. J. H. and Denton, O. A. (eds), 2004, Plant Resources of Tropical Africa 2. Vegetables. PROTA, Wageningen, Netherlands. p 561
- Haynes, J., & McLaughlin, J., 2000, Edible palms and Their Uses. University of Florida Fact sheet MCDE-00-50-1 p 6
- 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 114
- World Checklist of Useful Plant Species 2020. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
