This palm, which can grow up to 30 metres tall, produces male and female flowers on separate inflorescences. Inflorescences bearing flowers of both sexes are rare.
The fruit clusters, which can weigh up to 25 kilograms, consist of between 1,000 and 4,000 orange-red drupes. The wild palm trees yield one tonne of drupes per hectare.
Thanks to the targeted selection of high-yielding varieties, yields per hectare now reach up to 6 tonnes. Around 80 per cent of the oil extracted comes from the pulp, and 20 per cent from the seeds.
Distribution
Central and West Africa; probably introduced to Madagascar
Taxonomy
American oil palm
Use
Palm oil is used in margarine, cooking fat, cleaning products and cosmetics. The oil cake is used as animal feed. The main growing regions are Malaysia and Indonesia.
