Borassus aethiopium
Encyclopedia
Borassus aethiopum is a species of Borassus
Borassus
Borassus is a genus of six species of fan palms, native to tropical regions of Africa, Asia and New Guinea. They are tall palms, capable of growing up to 30 m high. The leaves are long, fan-shaped, 2 to 3 m in length...

palm from Africa. In English it is variously referred to as African fan palm, African palmyra palm, deleb palm, ron palm, toddy palm, black rhun palm, ronier palm (from the French) and other names. It also has names in African languages.
The tree has many uses: the fruit are edible, as are the tender roots produced by the young plant; fibres can be obtained from the leaves; and the wood (which is reputed to be termite
Termite
Termites are a group of eusocial insects that, until recently, were classified at the taxonomic rank of order Isoptera , but are now accepted as the epifamily Termitoidae, of the cockroach order Blattodea...

-proof) can be used in construction.
There are at least two varieties of this species: var. bagamojensis and var. senegalensis.
They grow swelling, solitary trunks to 25 metres (82 ft) in height and 1 metres (3.3 ft) in diameter at the base. The green leaves
Leaves
-History:Vocalist Arnar Gudjonsson was formerly the guitarist with Mower, and he was joined by Hallur Hallsson , Arnar Ólafsson , Bjarni Grímsson , and Andri Ásgrímsson . Late in 2001 they played with Emiliana Torrini and drew early praise from the New York Times...

 — 3 metres (9.8 ft) wide — are carried on petioles — 2 metres (6.6 ft) long — which are armed with spines. The crownshaft
Crownshaft
An elongated circumferential leaf base formation present on some species of palm is called a crownshaft.The leaf bases of some pinnate leaved palms form a sheath at the top of the trunk surrounding the bud where all the subsequent leaves are formed.The crownshaft...

 is spherical to 7 metres (23 ft) wide, the leaves are round with stiff leaflets,
segmented a third or half-way to the petiole
Petiole (botany)
In botany, the petiole is the stalk attaching the leaf blade to the stem. The petiole usually has the same internal structure as the stem. Outgrowths appearing on each side of the petiole are called stipules. Leaves lacking a petiole are called sessile, or clasping when they partly surround the...

. In male plants the flower is small and inconspicuous; females grow larger, 2 centimetre (0.78740157480315 in) flowers which produce yellow to brown fruit
Fruit
In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...

 resembling the coconut
Coconut
The coconut palm, Cocos nucifera, is a member of the family Arecaceae . It is the only accepted species in the genus Cocos. The term coconut can refer to the entire coconut palm, the seed, or the fruit, which is not a botanical nut. The spelling cocoanut is an old-fashioned form of the word...

 containing up to 3 seeds
SEEDS
SEEDS is a voluntary organisation registered under the Societies Act of India....

.

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