Biology of an Oil Palm

Biology

• The beautiful oil palm can grow up to 65 feet tall (20 meters). It has dark green pinnate leaves that attain lengths of up to 16 feet (5 meters). The tree produces both male and female flowers that grow in dense clusters, the individual flowers being small with three sepals and three petals. The tree produces a dark purple, almost black fruit that turns reddish in color as it ripens. The fruit has a single seed -- the almond or kernel -- surrounded by a flesh-like outer layer. The fruit grows in bunches weighing as much as 110 lbs (50 kg). Both the kernel and the flesh of the fruit produce abundant oils.

Life

• When young, the stalk of the tree is rough. As the plant matures the stalk or trunk becomes smooth, though it often looks rough from the scars left by the leaves that die and fall away. In the mid-point of the tree's life the leaves grow almost horizontally. The oil palm lives approximately 50 years, but after 20 to 25 years the tree becomes too tall to make harvesting practical.

Uses

• The oil palm tree is grown for a myriad of uses. It can be used as a decorative plant or to produce copious amounts of oil. When extracting the oil, two products are made -- the oil itself and the kernel "cake." This cake can be used in feed for livestock while the oil is used in an almost endless list of applications: mixed into vegetable oil, fats, margarines, soaps, fatty acids, fatty esters, fatty alcohol, detergents, paints, gum and ink. And most recently the oil palm is being used as biofuel and because it is so rich in tocopherols and tocotrienols it can be used for Vitamin E supplementation. It is also one of the richest natural sources of beta-carotene.

Health benefits

• With so many people becoming more health conscious it is good to know that palm oil is actually a healthy product. It has a 1:1 ratio of saturated and unsaturated fats and is among the riches sources of beta carotene. It is a natural source of the antioxidants tocopherol and tocotrienol -- the "chemical" name for Vitamin E. Vitamin E protects cells from aging, helps prevent arteriosclerosis -- hardening of the arteries -- and protects the body from cancer and other diseases such as Alzheimers.