The Palms of Madagascar

INTRODUCTION

Madagascar has approximately 170 different palm species belonging to 16 genera, and all but five of the species are found nowhere else in the world. Compared with the whole of Africa which has approximately 65 species, Madagascar’s palm flora is very diverse. Madagascar palms have also radiated into a great range of habitats from coastal swamps to the high mountains and from ever-wet forests to the dry forest of the south-west. Botanists from Kew, John Dransfield and Henk Beentje, completed their account of the palms of Madagascar in 1995 and this was published as an illustrated book. However, since then several new species have been discovered and it seems many more may yet be discovered, described and named. Madagascar palms are of great significance to the Malagasy people as a source of food, construction material, clothing and the source of foreign currency from the sale of ornamental palm seed.

Raphia farinifera, Masoala.

USEFUL PALMS

The most intensively utilised of all palms in Madagascar, Raphia farinifera (raffia, rofia), may, in fact, not be native to the island but may represent an early introduction from East Africa where it also grows. In Madagascar, rofia is never found in primary forest but is always associated with cultivated land. It is one of the first useful plants to be planted, usually in a swampy valley bottom, when an area of "tavy" is cleared. The famous raffia fibre is harvested from the emerging leaves and is used for weaving cloth, hats and baskets, and for tying. The leaf stalks are used in house construction and the flesh of the scaly fruits is eaten. The growing point makes a superb salad, although harvesting it destroys the plant.

Many palms are used for thatch and house construction and almost all produce edible hearts. Two species in particular, Ravenea lakatra and R. dransfieldii, are used for the weaving of fine hats, and the harvest of the fibre has resulted in these two species becoming very rare.

Toy bicycle made from raffia pith, Sainte Marie	Hat made from raffia, Mananara Avaratra	Hats made from Ravenea lakatra, Ifanadiana

ORNAMENTAL PALMS

The palms of Madagascar include some of the most widely cultivated palms in the world. Dypsis lutescens, native to coastal white sand forest is now cultivated throughout the tropics and as an indoor palm worldwide. Bismarckia nobilis and Dypsis decaryi are also very widespread in cultivation.

A relatively recent introduction, Ravenea rivularis (native to the area south-west of Isalo) is traded as "majesty palm" and seed export last year from Madagascar amounted to 20–25 tonnes, much going to south-east Asia for ornamental use. Seed physiology and demography of this species is being studied by Guy Rakotondranony (Silo National des Graines Forestières (SNGF) as part of his PhD study in collaboration with Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, with the aim of understanding whether seed can be harvested sustainably or not. Many Madagascar palms are grown by enthusiasts throughout the world from seed harvested in the wild with little thought for sustainability.

Dypsis decaryi, the triangle palm.	Ravenea rivularis at Ilakaka before the discovery of sapphires

THREATS

	The main threats to the survival of palms in Madagascar are habitat destruction, the harvesting of palms hearts and the collecting of seed, which sometimes involves the felling and death of individual stems. Even in apparently well protected reserves, palms are still periodically felled each year for their edible growing points – choux palmiste or palm cabbage.
	Beccariophoenix madagascariensis, cut down for its edible growing point, Mantadia.

NEW SPECIES

Even though Palms of Madagascar was published in 1995, new species continue to be discovered. A few of these, such as Dypsis turkii, have been described and published. Others are known to exist because their seeds have been traded, but there are no legally collected reference specimens on which new descriptions and names can be based. As specimens become available, these will be described and named.

CONTACT

John Dransfield, Herbarium, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond Surrey, TW9 3AB, UK. Email

To purchase the Palms of Madagascar Book Please see the Kew Book shop.