An Introduction To Palm Trees

A palm tree symbolizes life and its continuance, as well as joy and happiness. Dante mentions that Christians travelling to the Holy Land were known as “palmeros.” palm trees have been a part of myths as well as religion. The palm tree in the primal garden, the Garden of Eden, was known to be the tree of Life. Palm trees were also where the Goddess Astarte or Tamar resided.
A festival known as “palm Sunday” is celebrated by Christians to commemorate the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem just a few days before his crucifixion. People welcomed Jesus by waving palm fronds and carpeting his path with palm leaves.
The palm family of trees has approximately 202 genera and 2,600 species. The palms are native to tropical and subtropical climates, and commonly known palms are date, coconut, and areca nut. Known to have existed around 80 million years ago, palms are among the oldest varieties of flowering plants.
The trunks of the palm have been used since ancient times to build catamarans or special boats. Dates are harvested from palms. Palms produce coir ropes, mats, and bags, and palm oil is extracted from palms, along with palm wine.
In the US, different species of palm are native to Florida, California, Hawaii, Southern Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, and Texas. In fact, South Carolina is popularly known as the Palmetto State after the palms that line the coast.
As with all other things, many species of palm are facing extinction and are under threat from urbanisation, natural disasters, hybridization, and a lack of knowledge amongst common folk. Destruction of natural habitats, forest clearing operations, mining, clearing of mangroves, and dumping of trash are all detrimental to the survival of palms. Like other plants, palms are also prone to destruction by nature and disease.
Ornamental palms are a luxury and can cost from fifty to several hundred dollars.
Today the palm, the “Prince among trees,” needs care and attention. Otherwise, a tree that has lasted centuries will not remain for centuries to come.

Money Grows on Oil Palm Trees

Elaeis guineensis or more commonly known are the palm tree has its roots in West Africa. The tree was growing wildly in the region and later has been developed into an agriculture crop. The palm tree was first introduced to Malaysia in early 1870s. During that time, the country was known as Malaya. It was not until the year 1917 that palm trees was planted as a commercial crop in a rural area call Tennamaran in Selangor. That project was the initial step in making Malaysia as one of the top producer of palm oil in the world.
The palm oil industry in Malaysia grew very quickly in the 1950s to 1960s. The rapid growth was the result of the Malaysian government effort to reduce the country economic dependency on rubber and tin. Another of the country major project is reduce poverty in the nation thus land settlement schemes for growing palm oil trees was introduced to small land owners. The combined effort has produced hundred of plantation sites in a short time frame. Until today, the palm oil tree plantation estate management system consists mainly of small land holders.
Presently, there are more than 3.5 million hectares of land in Malaysia which has palm oil cultivation. In the year 2004, Malaysia has produced more than 14 millions tonnes of palm oil. Malaysia currently accounts for 51 % of world palm oil production and 62% of the total global exports. As the biggest producer and exporter of palm oil and palm oil products, Malaysia has an important role to play in fulfilling the growing global need for oils and fats in general. With the current increase on the demand for palm oil, Malaysia is in the right position to take advantage of such opportunity.

Palm Oil Processing Flow Chart