Caryota mitis

Caryota mitis, known as the clustering fishtail palm or fishtail palm, is a species of palm native to Tropical Asia from India to Java to southern China, now sparingly naturalized in southern Florida and in parts of Africa and Latin America.[2][3][4][5][6] The species was originally described from Vietnam in 1790.[7] In Florida, it grows in hummocks and in disturbed wooded areas.[8]

Caryota mitis
Leaves of Caryota mitis
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Clade: Commelinids
Order: Arecales
Family: Arecaceae
Genus: Caryota
Species:
C. mitis
Binomial name
Caryota mitis
Lour.
Synonyms[1]
  • Caryota furfuracea Blume ex Mart.
  • C. griffithii Becc.
  • C. griffithii var. selebica Becc.
  • C. javanica Zipp. ex Miq.
  • C. nana Linden
  • C. propinqua Blume ex Mart.
  • C. sobolifera Wall. ex Mart.
  • C. sobolifera Wall.
  • C. speciosa Linden
  • Drymophloeus zippellii Hassk.
  • Thuessinkia speciosa Korth.
Caryota mitis in Bagh-e-Jinnah, Lahore

Caryota mitis has clustered stems up to 10 m (33 feet) tall and 15 cm (6 inches) in diameter. Leaves can be up to 3 m (10 feet) long. Flowers are purple, and the fruits—harmful to humans—are dark purple or red.[7][9][10]

Uses

Cultivated mainly as an ornament plant in Cambodia, where it is named tunsaé töch, traditional healers burn the heaps of felted hairs from the leaves' axils to treat ill limbs of patients.[11]

Toxicity

The fruit of C. mitis is saturated with raphides, sharp, needle-shaped crystals of calcium oxalate. The raphides are strong irritants that cause damage and subsequent itching upon contact with skin, and if ingested, the mouth. This is a result of the physical structure of the raphides, and not any chemical reaction.[12]

  • Plant
  • Characteristic of the grouping of trunks
  • Phyllotaxis
  • Phyllotaxis
  • Fruits
  • Fruits
  • Fruits

References
  1. The Plant List
  2. Berendsohn, W.G., A. K. Gruber & J. A. Monterrosa Salomón. 2012. Nova Silva Cuscatlanica. Árboles nativos e introducidos de El Salvador. Parte 2: Angiospermae – Familias M a P y Pteridophyta. Englera 29(2): 1–300.
  3. Idárraga-Piedrahita, A., R. D. C. Ortiz, R. Callejas Posada & M. Merello. (eds.) 2011. Flora de Antioquia: Catálogo de las Plantas Vasculares 2: 9–939. Universidad de Antioquia, Medellín.
  4. Linares, J. L. 2003 [2005]. Listado comentado de los árboles nativos y cultivados en la república de El Salvador. Ceiba 44(2): 105–268.
  5. Molina Rosito, A. 1975. Enumeración de las plantas de Honduras. Ceiba 19(1): 1–118.
  6. ORSTOM. 1988. List of Vascular Plants of Gabon with Synonymy, Herbier National du Gabon, Yaounde.
  7. Loureiro, João de. Flora Cochinchinensis 2: 569–570. 1790.
  8. Wunderlin, R. P. 1998. Guide to the Vascular Plants of Florida i–x, 1–806. University Press of Florida, Gainesville.
  9. Flora of North America v 22 p 115.
  10. Flora of China v 23 p 150.
  11. Dy Phon, Pauline (2000). Plants Utilised In Cambodia/Plants utilisees au Cambodge. Phnom Penh: Imprimerie Olympic. p. 136.
  12. Snyder, D S; Hatfield, G M; Lampe, K F (April 1979). "Examination of the itch response from the raphides of the fishtail palm Caryota mitis". Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology. 48 (2): 287–292. doi:10.1016/0041-008x(79)90035-8.
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