Oil palm
Family Palmae (or Araceae)
Elaeis guineensis, the oil palm (E. guineensis 3), is a monoecious palm, 20-30 m tall, which may live for up to 200 years. The leaf bases adhere to the stem for at least 12 years, giving a rough-stemmed palm. The crown consists of 40-50 opened pinnate leaves and the central cone with about the same number in various stages of development. Each mature leaf is up to 7.5 m long and stays on the palm for about 2 years, than a new leaf replaces it. The inflorescence produces male or female flowers. Male flowers with 6 perianth segments and 6 stamens, female flowers with 6 tepals and an ovary with a sessile stigma with 3 lobes. The time from flowering to harvesting is about 6 months. Heavy and massive fruit bunches (E. guineensis 2) are produced in the axils of the lower leaves. The fruit is a drupe, 2-5 cm long, orange, brown, violet or black in colour, containing one seed with a dark brown testa (E. guineensis 1).
Distribution
The centre of origin of the oil palm is West Africa. Slave-traders took the palm to the New World, but except in Brazil it did not become widely accepted. In 1848 four palms were received in the botanical garden of Bogor, Java, and the progeny of these palms was distributed in the Dutch East Indies. The Singapore botanical garden received seeds from Java in about 1870 and from here the palm was distributed in Sumatra and Malaysia.
Use
The oil palm produces two distinct oils: palm oil and palm kernel oil. Both are of economical importance. Palm oil is obtained from the mesocarp of the fruit, which contains about 50% oil with a high proportion of the saturated palmitic acid and the unsaturated oleic and linoleic acid. It is yellow or orange in colour, depending on the amount of carotenoids present. Originally palm oil was widely used in the manufacture of soap and candles, but with the improvement of quality it is being increasingly used in the manufacture of margarine and cooking fats.
Palm kernel oil is obtained from the kernels, which also contain about 50% oil. It contains a high proportion of the saturated lauric acid and resembles coconut oil. It has a wide range of applications: in confectionery and bakery, in ice cream and mayonnaise, and in soap and detergents. Palm wine is produced from tapping the male inflorescence and having the sap fermented. The central shoot is edible. The leaves are used for thatching.
In Africa the bunches are left for a few days to ferment, after which the fruits are boiled and pounded (E. guineensis 4). The oil is obtained by skimming the surface of the water and heating the oil to remove the remainder of water.
Yields vary from an average of 10 tons of bunches per hectare in Africa to double that amount in Malaysia.
The greatest producers of palm oil are Malaysia, Indonesia, Congo and Nigeria. The greatest importer is Britain, followed by Germany, France and Holland.