| DESCRIPTION: It is a fast growing, evergreen and ornamental palm reaching up to 4-8 or 12-15 m in height. USE: The sweet fruits is edible. The leaves can be used as roughage for milk cattle. Date sugar is obtained from its sap and refined into sugar or fermented into alcohol. The trunk is used in the construction of houses. The fruit is good in heart complaints, abdominal complaints, fevers, vomiting and loss of consciousness. The juice obtained from the tree is considered to be a cooling beverage. The roots are used to stop toothache. The fruit pounded and mixed with almonds, quince seeds, pistachio nuts and sugar, form a restorative remedy. The central tender part of the plant is used in gonorrhoea. It is an ornamental tree and can also be used as an avenue plant. GROWING PERIOD: Perennial. COMMON NAMES: Date-sugar palm, Dushpradarsha, Indian wild date, Indian winepalm. FURTHER INF: It can be found in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar, Pakistan, Australia and in the Ivory Coast. It is gregarious in many parts of India. It is commonly found on low ground in the sub-Himalayan tract, along along river banks and on stretches of low ground. It can be found in open tropical rainforest, open forest and grassland. It can grow in a wide range of soil types but prefers sandy well drained but moist soils. It will not survive in wet or badly drained soils. |