Phoenix sylvestris - Sylvester Palm, Silver Date Palm

Phoenix sylvestris - Sylvester Palm, Silver Date Palm, Wild Date Palm, India Date Palm
Robert Pittman January 18 2010 10:40:42 PM
Family: Palmae



Common names: Date-sugar palm, Indian winepalm, sugar palm, wild date-palm
Phoenix sylvestris is gregarious in many parts of India. It is commonly found on low ground in the sub-Himalayan tract, along the Ramganga River in Rohilkhand and along river banks and on stretches of low ground in the Deccan and Mysore (Brandis, 1906).
In Himachal Pradesh, it is found in all the districts in forests up to elevations of 1,350 metres. Wild date-trees are growing abundantly on the hill slopes at Jabli (17 km from Kalka towards Simla) and its adjoining areas where thousands of plants of this species can be seen.
Morphology
An unbranched, erect, tall dioecious, evergreen tree, 4 to 8 metres in height with large persistent leaves in a terminal tuft; stem clothed with persistent bases of leaf-stalks; root suckers, absent.
Leaves, compound, 1.5 to 2 metres in length, green with a. few spines at the base, each leaf containing numerous (120), pinnae which are linear, 26.5 cm long and sharply pointed at the end.
Staminate flowers, sessile, 7 mm long, 5 mm broad; perianth, 3, each 6 mm long, 2 mm broad, creamish; androecium, polyandrous, with 6 stamens; anther-lobes, about 3 mm long; filament, very short; anthers dehisce longitudinally, releasing white pollen.
Pistillate flowers, sessile, 4 min long perianth green, circular, cupshaped, three-toothed, small gynoecium, with. 3 distinct carpels; style, curved and very small.
Flowers, borne on a spadix covered by a spathe which is 29.5 cm long; the spathe separates into two boat-shaped halves, exposing the flowers at maturity; both male and female inflorescences, about 25 cm long, bearing about 2,800 flowers.
Fruits, oblong, 1.4 to 1.7 cm long, 0.9 to 1.1 cm in diameter, weight 542 mg, volume, 447 microlitres, deep purple to black; a bunch of fruits weighed 1,321.5 g and contained 2,390 fruits.
The flowering and fruiting season
The flowering season of this plant was observed to be from the first to the third week of August in the case of plants growing around Jabli. The fruits take almost one year for attaining maturity. The ripening starts from the first week of June and continues till the middle of July.
Yield
A wild date-tree yields very much less than a cultivated date-palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.). The trees of Phoenix sylvestris Roxb. under Jabli conditions were found to yield only about 7 kg of fruit.
Medicinal properties
The fruit is cooling, oleaginous, cardiotonic, fattening, constipative, good in heart complaints, abdominal complaints, fevers, vomiting and loss of consciousness. The juice obtained from the tree is considered to be a cooling beverage. The roots are used to stop toothache. The fruit pounded and mixed with almonds, quince seeds, pistachio nuts and sugar, form a restorative remedy (Kirtikar and Basu. 1935). The central tender part of the plant is used in gonorrhoea (Watt, 1892).
Dessert quality
The fruits are harvested unripe by removing the whole bunches. They are then kept covered with wheat straw. They ripen within two three days.
The fruits are seedy, and the seed occupies more than half of the fruit. The fruits are sweet. The overall fruit quality is good.
Utilization
The plants growing in the plains yield a good amount of juice which is used for making toddy and jaggery. The juice, as such, can also be drunk.
It is an ornamental tree and can also be used as an avenue plant.

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