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MANGROVE PALM FACTS |
Map is from The Atlas of Living Australia web site, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia License
Common Name
Mangrove Palm
Other Names
Nipa Palm
Description
The Mangrove Palm is an unusual palm with an underground horizontal trunk. The fronds grow upwards from the ground and can grow to nine metres tall, with about half a dozen leaves per plant. It produces clusters of flowers with both male and female flowers on the same cluster. The fruit is a woody nut, and these are packed together into ball like clusters. When ripe the nuts fall into the water and float away to spread the stand, or colonise new areas. The palm is grown commercially in plantations in Asia and has been introduced to a number of other countries outside its natural range.
Habitat
The Mangrove Palm grows in mud along coastlines and estuaries, slow moving rivers, and also in tidal freshwater wetlands and low lying areas where the nuts have been carried by water.
Distribution
Nypa fruticans is found in south east and eastern Asia. In Australia in is found in several small disconnected populations north east Queensland northern coast of Northern Territory .
Growth Characteristics
Height: 9m
Classification
| Class: | Liliopsida | | Order: | Arecales | | Family: | Arecaceae | | Genus: | Nypa | | Species: | fruticans | | Common Name: | Mangrove Palm |
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