Talk:Corypha umbraculifera

tapping toddy /wine?

This palm is said to go to seeds once it flowers. Never heard of toddy tapping from this kinds of palms. Wonder, if there is confusion between Borassus flabellifer and Caryota urens both of which allow toddy tapping and this one. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2405:204:D005:62CB:A8CA:F4BD:5F9F:9415 (talk) 07:42, 17 February 2018 (UTC)

You are right, this palm is often confused with Borassus flabellifer palm (Palmyra palm)as they both look somewhat similar, and more confusingly in Sri Lanka both are called "Thal" and in some parts of India like Bengal too. But the leaves, though look a bit similar, are much larger than Palmyrah leaves. Therefore, the distribution section is also wrong, they are not cultivated, as they don't have much economic benefit (can't wait 50 years for the flower!!) It is only growing wild, and not very common. What is cultivated is Palmyrah. Yes, the Talipot leaves were (occasionally still being) used for writing Ola-leaf manuscripts. Need to edit Palmyrah page, as someone has confused again there, saying that Palmyrah leaves are used for writing. Vijayanrajapuram's picture is also wrong as someone has commented, though leaves look a bit similar, they only flower once in life-time, after 40-60 years, and when they are 25m tall, and the flower (inflorescence) is the largest in the world. Yes, Borassus flabellifer and Caryota urens and mostly Cocos Nucifera, are used for toddy tapping, but only Borassus flabellifer has similar looking leaves. Caryota urens is also called Fish-tail palm as the leaves consist of small "fish-tails". Cocos N. is the coconut tree. Bede_Amarasekara 23:15, 14 October 2019 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by BedeRavindra (talk • contribs)

Indigenous distribution

The article states that it is "native to eastern and southern India and Sri Lanka. It is also grown in Cambodia, Myanmar, China, Thailand and the Andaman Islands." The only primary reference to this appears to be the 1905 New International Encyclopedia, other references quote this wikipedia article. Yet further in the article it is stated that it has long been a source of writing media in SEAsia. Pauline Dy Phon does not regard it as exotic in Cambodia, she describes as "met in the semi-dense forest of the Indochinese Peninsula". Has anybody got recent scientific evaluation of its indigenous distribution. Brunswicknic (talk) 10:28, 9 April 2020 (UTC)

• Further to this I note that Eagleton in 2016 (, sorry url is obscure), notes that the genus needs revision, and that C. utan is the palm used for lontar (writing media) in Island SEA. Irawanto 2013 (http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.1008.2793&rep=rep1&type=pdf) hints at native status of C. umbracaulifera in East Java.Brunswicknic (talk) 10:54, 9 April 2020 (UTC)

References