Elaeis guineensis

Elaeis guineensis is a species of palm commonly just called oil palm but also sometimes African oil palm or macaw-fat. The first Western person to describe it and bring back seeds was the French naturalist Michel Adanson. It is native to west and southwest Africa, specifically the area between Angola and The Gambia; the species name, guineensis, refers to the name for the area called Guinea, and not the modern country Guinea now bearing that name. The species is also now naturalised in Madagascar, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Indonesia, Central America, Cambodia, the West Indies, and several islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. The closely related American oil palm E. oleifera and a more distantly related palm, Attalea maripa, are also used to produce palm oil. E. guineensis was domesticated in West Africa along the south-facing Atlantic coast. There is insufficient documentation and as of 2019 insufficient research to make any guesses as to when this occurred. Human use of oil palms may date as far back as 5,000 years in Egypt; in the late 1800s, archaeologists discovered palm oil in a tomb at Abydos, Egypt, dating back to 3000 BCE (but this information needs further investigation, due to recent reviews. The oil found in Abydos may be just date oil or even animal fats). It is the principal source of palm oil. Oil palms can produce much more oil per unit of land area than most other oil-producing plants (about nine times more than soy and 4.5 times more than rapeseed).

Description

An unbranched palm with a stout erect stem. The stem is rough due to the leaf bases which remain attached. It grows to 20-30 m tall. The trunk is about 75 cm across. The crown consists of about 40 open leaves. These hang downwards. The leaves develop from the bud as a tightly rolled shoot which later opens. The palm crown spreads 5-9 m across. Casual roots grow from the lower 1 m of the base of the trunk. Many roots also grow just under the soil and spread out for 20 m around the palm. The leaves are about 7.5 m long. The leaves have spines along the leaf stalk. These leaves are made up of many leaflets (100-160 pairs). These are slender, long and thin and rich green. These are held at different levels along the midrib (Almost two rows). The flowers are of one sex only. The male flowers occur with a spiny tip. The female flowers are on long stalks. They are 30-45 cm long. The fruit is a large round bunch of small fruits. These are 4 cm long by 2 cm across. There can be 200 fruit in a bunch.

Edible Uses

Two distinct oils are extracted from this plant: palm oil from the fruit and palm kernel oil from the seed, obtained in a volume ratio of approximately 9:1. Palm oil has a wide range of culinary uses including margarine, vegetable ghee, bakery fats, ice cream, and cooking oil. In West Africa, unrefined red palm oil is an essential dietary staple, added directly to soups and sauces for richness, and used as a frying oil for snacks such as bean cakes and fried plantain. Its 10% linoleic acid content makes it an excellent source of carotene, important in reducing vitamin A deficiency and nutritional blindness. Adding palm oil to cereal preparations significantly increases their calorific density, which is especially beneficial for young children. Palm kernel oil is similar in composition to coconut oil and is used in margarine, ice cream, confectionery, and cooking, sometimes combined with coconut oil. Boiled and pounded nuts yield palm nut butter, a thick red liquid used in Ghana and Liberia for palm butter soup and other dishes. The soft interior of the apical bud is eaten as a heart-of-palm vegetable, though harvesting it kills the tree since the plant is single-stemmed and cannot produce side branches. Palm wine is made in West Africa by tapping the unopened male inflorescences or the stem just below the apex of felled trees, then fermenting the sap.

Traditional Uses

The outer layer of the fruits yields an orange cooking oil. The kernel also produces oil. The palm cabbage is edible. The sap tapped from the male flower is used to make wine. The oily fruit are sometimes eaten but can cause nausea. The leaves are burnt and used as a vegetable salt.

Medicinal Uses

Traditional medicinal uses in Africa are numerous. Preparations from the palm heart are used to treat gonorrhoea, menorrhagia, and perinatal abdominal pain, and are considered laxative, anti-emetic, and diuretic. Leaf sap is used in preparations for skin conditions. The roots are used as an analgesic. The oil from the pulp is emollient and used as an excipient for herbal ointments, and is applied in the treatment of suppurations, whitlows, and leg swellings caused by erysipelas and Filaria infestations.

Distribution

A tropical plant. They need a temperature above 18°C. They suit the hot humid tropics. They grow between 16°N and 15°S in Africa. These palms do well in rich moist soil. A rainfall above 2,000 mm is needed for good production. They need a sunny position. They are drought and frost tender. It grows from sea level to 900 m above sea level. It grows in areas with a mean annual temperature between 27-35°C. It grows in areas with a mean annual rainfall between 2,000-3,000 mm. Plantations are established in West New Britain in Papua New Guinea and palms occur in some other areas of the country. In Cairns Botanical Gardens. It suits hardiness zones 10-12. In Yunnan.

Where It Grows

Africa*, Amazon, Andaman Is., Angola, Asia, Australia, Bangladesh, Benin, Bolivia, Bougainville, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Central Africa, Central African Republic, CAR, Central America, Chad, China, Colombia, Congo DR, Congo R, Costa Rica, Côte d'Ivoire, Cuba, Dominican Republic, East Africa, East Timor, Ecuador, El Salvador, Ethiopia, FSM, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guiana, Guianas, Guinea, Guinée, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, India, Indochina, Indonesia, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Mali, Mexico, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Pacific, Papua New Guinea, PNG, Peru, Philippines, Pohnpei, Puerto Rico, Rwanda, Sahel, Sao Tome and Principe, SE Asia, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Southern Africa, South America, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Tanzania, Timor-Leste, Togo, Trinidad-Tobago, Uganda, Venezuela, Vietnam, West Africa, West Indies, Zambia,

Cultivation

Plants succeed in moist to very wet tropical climates up to elevations of 1,300m. Commercial cultivation is below 700m and preferably lower than 300 m. It grows best in areas where annual daytime temperatures are within the range 20 - 35°c, but can tolerate 12 - 38°c. The plant is quite tolerant, though, and succeeds in southern China where there are light frosts and mean daily temperatures can drop below 10°c for weeks on end. It prefers a mean annual rainfall in the range 1,500 - 3,000mm, but tolerates 1,000 - 8,000mm. Optimally, there should be at least 150 mm of rain each month of the year, ideally falling mostly at night. Plants grow well in full sun, even when small. Grows and thrives on wide range of tropical soils, provided they have adequate water supply. Requires a humus-rich soil. Waterlogged, highly lateritic, extremely sandy, stony or peaty soils should be avoided. Tolerant of temporary flooding, provided the water is not stagnant. Prefers a pH range 4.5 - 6, tolerating 3.2 - 8. The root system is adventitious, forming a dense mat with a radius of 3 - 5m in the upper 40 - 60cm of the soil. Some primary roots are directly below the base of the trunk descending for anchorage for more than 1.5m; the roots produce pneumatodes under very moist conditions. It is a succession species favoured by slash and burn, and its gene pool has expanded as farmers clear land and create more open habitat for the germination of its seeds. Plants can commence bearing 3 years after the seed has germinated. The plant produces both male and female flowers, but not usually at the same time. An individual inflorescence will be all male or all female flowers; after a series of inflorescences of one sex the plant will then produce a series of inflorescences of the opposite sex. Plants flower all year. The fruit is produced in clusters approx 100 fruits. The inflorescence is produced from about every second leaf axil. There are up to 1,500 deep violet fruits (ripening to orange-red) in each roundish dense cluster, weighing 30 kg or more. Yields of 5 tonnes of oil per hectare have been obtained from mature plants. Spacing: 15-20 ft. (4.7-6 m) 20-30ft. (6-9m) .

Propagation

Pre-soak seed for 24 hours in warm water and sow in containers; germination takes 2–5 months. Commercially, seeds are placed in intact 500-gauge polythene bags arranged on wooden boxes in a germinator at 39–40°C for 75–80 days. They are then soaked in cold water for 3 days with the water changed every 24 hours, drained, dried in shade, and kept at room temperature. Seeds are examined every 2 weeks — drying seeds are sprayed with water and germinated seeds are removed for potting. This method achieves an 80% germination rate.

Other Uses

Oil palm can be used to rehabilitate degraded land; in Sumatra it has been successfully established on abandoned farmland overtaken by Imperata cylindrica. About 10% of palm oil production — particularly inferior grades and refining residues — is used to manufacture soaps, detergents, candles, resins, lubricating greases, cosmetics, glycerol, and fatty acids. Palm oil is also used in the steel industry for sheet-steel manufacturing and tin plating, and epoxidized palm oil serves as a plasticizer and stabilizer in PVC plastics. Palm kernel oil is non-drying and is used as an alternative to coconut oil in high-quality soaps, lubricants, and as a source of short- and medium-chain fatty acids for producing fatty alcohols, esters, amines, amides, and other chemical components used in surface-active agents, plastics, lubricants, and cosmetics. In Togo, pressed fruits are dried and formed into cakes used as cooking fuel. Empty bunches, fibre, and mill effluent (approximately 0.5 tonnes of sludge per tonne of milled fruit) can be converted into organic fertilizers. Palm fronds are used for thatch, though they are less suited to this than coconut palm fronds due to irregular leaflet insertion. Leaflets are woven into baskets and mats, leaflet midribs are made into brooms, and rachises are used for fencing. Young leaflets yield a fine strong fibre used for fishing lines, snares, and strainers. Seed shells are polished and carved into ornamental rings and beads, and are also valued as a high-calorific fuel for blacksmiths' furnaces. Palm trunks from replanting provide material suitable for paper and board production, though this has not yet attracted significant commercial interest.

Production

The early growth of seedlings is slow. Palms commence bearing after about 4-6 years. When mature they produce 2-6 bunches per year. The flower bud does not develop until about 9 months after the leaf containing it has opened. Bright sunny weather helps the development of female flowers. Male flowers are more common in wet cloudy weather. Fruit matures 5-9 months after flowering. A bunch can weigh 18-25 kg. Palms live for many years. Individual trees can live for 200 years.

Other Information

A major cash crop but also significant as a food by farmers in many areas. It is sold in local markets. It is cultivated.

Notes

There are 2 Elaeis species.

Nutrition

Synonyms

Also Known As

Abura yashi, Aobara, Apwuraiasi, Asomme, Atchichi, Aye, Ba di ngasi, Ba di nsamba, Balia, Be yiya, Bemintchi, Caiauke, Corojo de Guinea, Dendes, Doung breng, Earra, Ebinazi, Ekpe, Igi okpe, Ikye, Isa, Ivile, Kanjindo, Kepala sawit, Kibila, Kikasi, Kwakwa, Lara, Libala, Loombo, Macaw-fat, Mchikichi, Mintchame, Mjenga, Mubira, Munazi, Mupomu, Ngazi, Nkula, N'queme, N'teen, Nsamba, Ochi, Oil palm, Palma africana, Palmeir de oleo, Palmeira de azeite, Palmeira dendem, Palmera, Palmier-a-huile, Quem, Ribe, Sihtan, Si-ohn, Tchin, Tem-em-eih, Tem-o, Tire, Toun, Tsingilo, Tugueih, Vin de palme, You zong

References (102)

• Alyegba, S. S. et al, 2013, Ethnobotanical Survey of Edible Wild Plants in Tiv Communities of Benue State, Nigeria. Journal of Natural Sciences Research. Vol.3, No.7
• Ambasta, S.P. (Ed.), 2000, The Useful Plants of India. CSIR India. p 191
• Aniama, S. O., et al, 2016, Ethnobotanical documentaton of some plants among Igala people of Kogi State (Nigeria). The International Journal Of Engineering And Science (IJES). 5(4) pp 33-42
• Ataga, C.D. & van der Vossen, H.A.M., 2007. Elaeis guineensis Jacq. [Internet] Record from Protabase. van der Vossen, H.A.M. & Mkamilo, G.S. (Editors). PROTA (Plant Resources of Tropical Africa), Wageningen, Netherlands. < http://database.prota.org/search.htm>. Accessed 15 October 2009.
• Balick, M.J. and Beck, H.T., (Ed.), 1990, Useful palms of the World. A Synoptic Bibliography. Colombia p 301 (As Elaeis melanococca), 395 (As Elaeis melanococca),

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