Greening - Tree Labels with QR Codes (130)

Scientific Name : Elaeis guineensis Jacq.
Common Name : African Oil Palm, Oil Palm
Chinese Name : 油棕
Family : ARECACEAE
Local distribution status : Exotic species

Anecdotes on plants

Origins	Native to the countries of Africa, such as Congo, Guinea, Nigeria and Uganda.
Meanings of names	The generic name Elaeis comes from the Greek word, meaning ‘oil’. The specific epithet guineensis refers to its origin near the Gulf of Guinea.
Application	Like its common names, the fruits of African Oil Palm are profusely oily. From where the oil is extracted, it can be generally categorized into two types. ‘Palm oil’ describes the oil yielded from the fruit mesocarp. Compared with other oil crops such as soybeans and corns, African Oil Palm is far and away the most prolific (approx. 5.5 t∙ha^-1), producing economical and durable oils that are predominantly used as biodiesel and biofuels, which are suggested to be more environmentally friendly than ordinary fossil fuels. While the oil is extracted directly from the seeds is known as ‘palm kernel oil’. It can be processed into daily products like margarines and an ingredient of candies and biscuits. The palm oil and palm kernel oil are esculent and serve as staple food of the local Africans, supporting daily energy and relieving skin diseases. Indonesia and Malaysia are currently the most productive countries in the world, ruling more than half of the global palm oil production, with a profitable annual return of more than a billion of USD. To attain the stunning demands of oils, the business of farming African Oil Palm has rampantly expanded and confined mainly to the tropic regions, where show warmer weather, abundant sunlight and copious precipitation. Since these regions are always highlighted as biodiversity hotspots, converting them into a homogenous land is beyond all dispute disastrous to the global biodiversity. For example, deforestation was increased 11% from 2007 to 2013 in Peruvian Amazonia due to the drastic expansion of the palm oil business in Peru. Deforestation is fundamentally imperceptible to a massacre and is considered as catastrophic and irreversible. Forests are a huge wealth from our mother nature, but regrettably humans are reluctant to receive it.

Origins

Native to the countries of Africa, such as Congo, Guinea, Nigeria and Uganda.

Meanings of names

The generic name Elaeis comes from the Greek word, meaning ‘oil’. The specific epithet guineensis refers to its origin near the Gulf of Guinea.

Application

Like its common names, the fruits of African Oil Palm are profusely oily. From where the oil is extracted, it can be generally categorized into two types. ‘Palm oil’ describes the oil yielded from the fruit mesocarp. Compared with other oil crops such as soybeans and corns, African Oil Palm is far and away the most prolific (approx. 5.5 t∙ha^-1), producing economical and durable oils that are predominantly used as biodiesel and biofuels, which are suggested to be more environmentally friendly than ordinary fossil fuels. While the oil is extracted directly from the seeds is known as ‘palm kernel oil’. It can be processed into daily products like margarines and an ingredient of candies and biscuits. The palm oil and palm kernel oil are esculent and serve as staple food of the local Africans, supporting daily energy and relieving skin diseases.

Indonesia and Malaysia are currently the most productive countries in the world, ruling more than half of the global palm oil production, with a profitable annual return of more than a billion of USD. To attain the stunning demands of oils, the business of farming African Oil Palm has rampantly expanded and confined mainly to the tropic regions, where show warmer weather, abundant sunlight and copious precipitation. Since these regions are always highlighted as biodiversity hotspots, converting them into a homogenous land is beyond all dispute disastrous to the global biodiversity. For example, deforestation was increased 11% from 2007 to 2013 in Peruvian Amazonia due to the drastic expansion of the palm oil business in Peru.

Deforestation is fundamentally imperceptible to a massacre and is considered as catastrophic and irreversible. Forests are a huge wealth from our mother nature, but regrettably humans are reluctant to receive it.

Traits for identification

Growing habit	Solitary palm.
Height	Up to 10 metres or higher.
Stem	Stem dark grey, cylindrical, dead leaf petiole persistent in the trunk, petiole off after a petiole scar.
Leaves	Leaf blade pinnatisect, clustered at stem apex. Tip pendulous, leaflets 100-150 pairs, basal leaflets reduced to spines. Petiole yellow tomentose.
Flower	Monecious，unisexual flowers. Inflorescence axillary, male inflorescence spikelet, finger-like, many, female inflorescence spikelet, sub-globose, stigma 3-lobed.
Fruit	Drupes many, ovoid-oblong, with persistent 3-lobed stigma, orange-red when mature.
Flowering period	/
Fruiting period	/

African Oil Palm, Oil Palm

Anecdotes on plants

Traits for identification

Remarks

Reference