Borassus flabellifer

Scientific name: Borassus flabellifer L.

Family: Arecaceae

Synonym: Borassus flabelliformis L.

Bengali/Vernacular name: Tal, Talgach (Bengali).

Tribal name: Tain pang (Chak), Tal-phang (Garo), Thyn (Khumi), Thing-ui (Murang), Shiallu (Pangkhoa), Thowaymphe-bawn (Rakhaing).

English name: Palmyra-palm, Barb tree, Toddy palm, Wine palm, Tal palm.

Description of the plant: A solitary, stout, erect, unbranched palm, up to 30 m tall. Leaves fan-shaped, 25-40 per plant, blade 1.0-2.5 m long, rigid, coriaceous, segments 60-80 per blade, linear-lanceolate, 2-fid, greyish-green, extension of the petiole protrudes as the rib well into the centre of the blade, causing it to be costapalmate, petiole stout, light green, 1-1.5 m long, base expanded, dark brown, 25-40 cm broad, 3-5 cm thick, with spiny teeth along the margin, black in colour. Plants are dioecious. Fruit a large, broadly obovoid drupe, 15-20 cm in diameter, dark brown when ripe, smooth outside, very fibrous inside. Seeds oblong, encased in strong fibres, seed-coat thick, bony.

Plant parts used: Root.

Medicinal uses: Root is used in gonorrhoea.

Root juice is taken to treat vomiting.

Decoction of root is taken for the treatment of gastritis, hiccup. 

Distribution: Cultivated throughout Bangladesh.

Is this plant misidentified? If yes, please tell us….