Lala palm (Hyphaene coriacea)
The plants flower from November to February, so that is something I still have to look forward to! The fruit takes two years to ripen and this can stay on the palm for a further two years, before falling. Elephants and baboons eat this fruit (luckily we do not have ANY elephants or baboons inside the estate! but we do have Vervet monkeys, and I'm wondering if they also eat the fruit...?), and therefore disperse it to various regions. Apparently, in this manner, the fruit can take only a month to germinate. Birds like to nest in these Lala Palms, because it is quite spiny, so detracting the predators. There is a big craft market, that the fibre of this Palm supports, such as, baskets, mats, etc. A palm wine is also made from the sap and is a source of Vitamin B.
Plants succeed in moist tropical climates where temperatures never fall below 10°c, the average annual rainfall is 1,500mm or more and the driest month has 25mm or more rain. They can also succeed in drier areas with an annual rainfall as low as 250mm and one month or more where rainfall is below 25mm.
Plants grow well in full sun, even when small but prefers growing in alluvial sands. Found in the wild on poorly drained, light, dry soils of low fertility. It is a suckering palm, forming a clump of trunks. Dioecious, both male and female forms need to be grown if fruit and seed are required.
P.S.: This palm was identified for me by Sasha Ireland on the FaceBook Group "Dolphin Coast Neighbours".
