PlantPeers
Back to Catalog
Corypha umbraculifera
Arecaceae FAMILY

Corypha umbraculifera

Corypha umbraculifera

Edibility
2/5
Medicinal
1/5

Safety & Hazards

The young fruit is pounded and used for stupefying fish[1].

Cultivation Details

HabitEvergreen Tree
GrowthSlow

Plants grow naturally in tropical monsoonal areas[2]. They can succeed in both humid and dry tropical zones, so long as there is sufficient subsoil moisture[3]. Prefers a moist but well-drained soil and a position in full sun[4]. Established plants are drought tolerant[4]. A slow-growing plant when young[3]. The tree only flowers towards the end of its life, usually at around 80 years of age[4]. It then produces a spectacular display with an inflorescence up to 6 metres long containing several million flowers[2, 4].

Propagation

Seed - best sown as fresh as possible, it usually germinates within 2 - 3 months[2]. Cite as: Tropical Plants Database, Ken Fern. tropical.theferns.info. 2026-02-20. <tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Corypha+umbraculifera>

Pollinators

Data unavailable

References

  1. [1]A Handbook to the Flora of Ceylon — Trimen H.; continued by Hooker J.D. · Dulau and Co; London. · 1898 · http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org ↩︎Very dated, but still a useful work. It can be downloaded from the Internet.
  2. [2]Palms of the World — Blombery. A. & Rodd. T. · Angus and Robertson · 1992 · ISBN 0-207-14848-1 ↩︎An excellent guide, well illustrated, with information on cultivation, uses, habitat etc of almost 200 species of Palms.
  3. [3]The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. — Huxley. A. · MacMillan Press · 1992 · ISBN 0-333-47494-5 ↩︎Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.
  4. [4]Palm and Cycad Societies of Australia. — http://www.pacsoa.org.au/ ↩︎Contains at least a little information on the majority of palm and cycad species, plus a wealth of photographs. A first class website.
  5. [5]Dominica Botanic Gardens — http://www.da-academy.org/trees_shrubs.html ↩︎An on-line resource, providing top quality pictures and some basic information on various plants being grown at the Botanic Gardens, often including uses and habitat.
  6. [6]Useful Fiber Plants of the World — Dodge C.R. · USDA; Washington. · 1897 · http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/ ↩︎A rather dated, but very comprehensive catalogue of fibre plants from around the world. The book can be downloaded from the Internet.
  7. [7]Dictionary of Economic Plants. — Uphof. J. C. Th. · Weinheim · 1959 · ISBN - ↩︎An excellent and very comprehensive guide but it only gives very short descriptions of the uses without any details of how to utilize the plants. Not for the casual reader.
  8. [8]Flora of China — Missouri Botanical Garden Press; St. Louis. · 1994 · http://flora.huh.harvard.edu/china/ ↩︎An excellent, comprehensive resource in 25 volumes. In addition to the botanical information the flora also gives basic information on habitat and some uses. An on-line version is also available.
  9. [PFAF]Plants for a Future — pfaf.org ↩︎