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Sugar palms
Barassus flabellifer
Nomenclature
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Family: ArecaceaeSubfamily: Coryphoideae
Species:
Barassus flabellifer
SUMMARY
The palmyra palm is a large tree up to 30m high and the trunk may have a circumference of 1.7m at the base. There may be 25-40 fresh leaves. They are leathery, gray green, fan-shaped, 1-3 m wide, folded along the midrib; are divided to the center into 60-80 linear- lanceolate, 0.6-1.2 m long, marginally spiny segments. Their strong, grooved petioles, 1-1.2 m long, black at the base and black-margined when young, are edged with hard spines.The chief product of the palmyra is the sweet sap (toddy) obtained by tapping the tip of the inflorescence, as is done with the other sugar palms. [1]