Common Name: Ivory Coast Raffia Palm

General Information

Ivory Coast raffia palm is an evergreen palm tree with an unbranched stem that can be up to 10 metres tall topped by a crown of erect, large leaves that can each be 12 metres long[]. The tree is usually single-stemmed, though it sometimes produces 1 - 4 suckers. The stem can be 30cm in diameter[, ].
The plant has a wide range of uses and is very important to the local people where it grows in Africa[]. It is also a major source of raffia and piassava fibres, which are sometimes exported to various temperate countries, especially Europe[, ]. Generally harvested from the wild, it is occasionally cultivated, in Nigeria, for example, and is also sometimes outside Africa in India, Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore[].

Known Hazards

The raw fruit is poisonous and is crushed for use as fish poison[].

Botanical References

Range

Western tropical Africa - Sierra Leone to Central African Republic and Zaire, south to Angola.

Habitat

Lowland coastal freshwater swamps, where it can grow in water up to 1 metre deep, and river banks. The soils of Nigerian freshwater swamps are light textured and generally acidic[, , ].

Properties

Edibility Rating
Medicinal Rating
Other Uses Rating
Habit	Evergreen Tree
Height	10.00 m
Cultivation Status	Cultivated, Wild

Cultivation Details

A plant of the wet, lowland tropics, where it is found at elevations up to 200 metres. It grows best in areas where annual daytime temperatures are within the range 24 - 30°c, but can tolerate 14 - 36°c[]. It prefers a mean annual rainfall in the range 3,000 - 4,000mm, but tolerates 2,000 - 5,000mm[].
Requires a hot, sunny position in a moist soil[]. Prefers a pH in the range 5 - 6, tolerating 4.5 - 6.5[]. Dislikes saline soils[]. Plants can tolerate being in flooded ground[].
A monocarpic plant - growing for several years without flowering, then producing a massive inflorescence and dying after setting seed[]. Inflorescences are produced more or less simultaneously in the axils of the most distal leaves. Tapping for wine may damage the developing inflorescence, making flowering impossible and accelerating death[].
The time from planting to flowering in Raphia hookeri is 3 - 7 years[].
Managed stands are mostly left to rejuvenate naturally by seed. In Nigeria, selected trees are left untapped for this purpose[].

Edible Uses

The sap from the trunk is fermented to make palm wine, which is a very popular drink in west Africa[, ]. When fresh, the sap tastes like ginger beer. The alcohol content of the sap increases from less than 2% to about 5% during the first 8 days of tapping, remaining constant thereafter[].
It is obtained from the inflorescence[]. It is tapped from the stem when the tree nears the flowering stage[]. The sap can be obtained either by cutting down the trunk and allowing the sap to drain out, or by boring a hole in the trunk near the apex[]. Palm wine is obtained by piercing the base of the terminal bud, which leads eventually to the death of the palm[].
The wine is distilled into a strong alcoholic liquor and can also be used as bakers' yeast[].

Fruit - boiled and eaten[, ]. Poisonous raw[].

The apical bud is cooked and used like cabbage[, ]. Harvesting this bud will eventually cause the death of the trunk because it is unable to make side branches[].

An edible starch is obtained from the stem[].

An oil is obtained from the fruit[].

Medicinal

The oily mesocarp of the fruit is used in traditional medicine for its laxative and stomachic properties and as a liniment for pains[].

Agroforestry Uses:

In Nigeria, the plant sometimes serves as support for yams[].
In Benin, tomatoes, cassava, sugar cane, red pepper and other crops are sometimes grown on earth ridges in Raphia hookeri swamps[].

Other Uses

Raffia, a soft but strong fibre, is obtained by pulling off ribbon-like strips from the upper surface of the leaflets of young unfolding leaves. It is used to make mats, hats, baskets, bags, ropes, hammocks, ceremonial costumes, etc[, ]. It may be woven into cloth[]. In Europe it is used as tying material for horticulture and handicrafts[].
Raffia fibre has been considered as a potential source of pulp for paper production[].

The tough fibre (known as piassava) obtained from the petioles and leaf sheaths, is used for making brooms[, ]. It is used for the roller brushes employed in sweeping streets; for making mats, bags, hammocks, ropes, etc[]. A tough, weather-resistant, coarse rope can also be made from this fibre[, ].
Piassava fibre is also used to make exceptionally strong paper[].
A very fine-textured charcoal, much favoured for the manufacture of home-made gunpowder, can be made from the fibre[].
Piassava fibre is water resistant, hard-wearing, and has the right balance between stiffness and elasticity to give a firm stroke to a broom and sufficient spring action to make the broom self-cleaning. Mature leaves yield higher quality piassava fibre than younger leaves[].

The large midribs of the leaves, and the leaf stalks, are widely used by native people to construct the framework of houses, as poles for various uses and for making into furniture, ladders etc[, , ]. They can be split into strips for maing screens, weaving into mats, baskets etc[, ].

The leaves, split lengthwise, are used for thatching, though they last only 1 year[]. They are also used to make mats, baskets and other articles of wickerwork, and are used for hut-walls and fences[].

Wood - used for construction[]. The stem can be used in house-building, both for the framework and roof-poles and also for furniture frames; the outer splints are used for heavy mat screens, hut partitions and ceilings[]. The wood can be used after the sap has been allowed to drain[].

Propagation

Seed - pre-soak for 24 hours in warm water and sow in containers. The seed requires several months to germinate[]. The germination period may range from 1 - 24 months, and the germination rate from 30 - 60%. Young plants are easily transplanted[].
It has been claimed that seeds should be sown ventral side upwards, because the embryo is located on this side, but research has shown that seed orientation does not influence germination or seedling growth[].

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