African Oil Palm

African Oil Palm 

(Elaeis guineensis), a plant of the family Palmaceae. The trunk is 20-30 m tall (in cultivation, 10-15 m), and the pinnate leaves measure 6-7 mm in length. The plant is monoecious with inflorescences containing unisexual flowers; flowering occurs in the fourth or fifth season. Each inflorescence contains 600-800 pistillate flowers and, when the fruits ripen, weighs 25-50 kg. The fruit is a drupe that is about the size of a plum. The juicy pulp contains up to 70 percent palm oil; the seeds contain up to 26 percent palmseed oil, which is used in food and for the production of margarine. The African oil palm grows primarily in western Equatorial Africa. It is cultivated throughout the tropics, but mainly in tropical Africa (since the 17th century).

REFERENCES

Siniagin, I. I. Tropicheskoe zemledelie. Moscow, 1968.
Zhukovskii, P. M. Kul’turnye rasteniia i ikh sorodichi, 3rd ed. Leningrad, 1971.