Phoenix roxburghii: New Palm Species
Researchers have identified a new palm species and named it as Phoenix roxburghii.
- Phoenix roxburghii is a new palm species named after William Roxburgh, considered the father of Indian Botany.
- It grows 12 to 16 metres tall.
- Phoenix roxburghii shares morphological similarities with Phoenix sylvestris,but differs by its taller solitary trunk, larger leaves and leaflets, musty-scented staminate flowers and larger, obovoid orange-yellow fruits,
- It is found on India’s eastern coast and Bangladesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Pakistan
- Palm is a member of the Arecaceae, or Palmae, a single family of monocotyledonous flowering plants of the order Arecales.
- It is an evergreen plant which can grow in the form of shrubs, trees, or long, woody vines called lianas.
- It is distributed in America and in Asia, from India to Japan and south to Australia and the islands of the Pacific and Indian oceans, with Africa and Madagascar as a third but much less important palm region.
- The palms with the greatest importance in world commerce are the coconut and the African oil palm (Elaeis guineensis); both are prime sources of vegetable oil and fat.
