Common Name: Salak Palm

General Information

Salacca zalacca is a prickly, stemless clumping palm with long erect leaves up to 6 metres tall and a creeping rootstock[]. The plant usually grows in compact clumps[].
The plant is commonly cultivated for its edible fruit in tropical Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia where it is very highly esteemed and is often found in local markets[, , ].

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

Range

E. Asia - Malaysia.

Habitat

Rich soils in moist, shaded forests, often forming impenetrable thickets when growing in swampy areas and along the sides of streams[].

Properties

Edibility Rating
Other Uses Rating
Habit	Evergreen Shrub
Height	4.00 m
Pollinators	Insects
Cultivation Status	Cultivated, Wild

Cultivation Details

A plant of the humid, lowland tropics, where it is found at elevations up to 500 metres. It grows best in areas where annual daytime temperatures are within the range 22 - 30°c, but can tolerate 12 - 36°c[]. It prefers a mean annual rainfall in the range 1,700 - 3,100mm, but tolerates 1,400 - 3,500mm[].
Requires a deep, rich, moist soil and some shade[]. Prefers a light-textured soil[]. Young palms require heavy shade which may be reduced after about one year[]. Because of its superficial root system, the palm requires a high water table, rain or irrigation during most of the year, but it does not stand flooding[]. Prefers a pH in the range 5 - 6, tolerating 4.5 - 6.5[].
The palm starts flowering three to four years after sowing[]. It can be productive for 50 years or more[]. The scarce data available suggest that annual yields vary from 5 - 15 t/ha[].
There are some named varieties[].
A dioecious plant, requiring both male and female forms to be grown near each other if fruit and seed are required[]. One male plant is usually adequate to fertilise nine females[]. There is at least one monoecious variety[]. 'Bali' produces inflorescences with both hermaphrodite and staminate flowers; the latter produce functional pollen[].

Edible Uses

Fruit - raw[]. An acid flavour[]. Slightly crisp, with a delicious blend of acids and sugars and an apple-like flavour[, ] The flesh is exceptionally firm and crisp for a tropical fruit[]. It is quite sweet when fully ripe, but the unripe fruit is sour and astringent due to the presence of a little tannic acid[]. Considered to be one of the finest of palm fruits for eating raw[]. In Indonesia the fruits are also candied ('manisan salak'), pickled ('asinan salak') and fresh unripe ones may be used in 'rujak', a spicy salad of unripe fruit[]. The reddish-brown, ovoid fruit is 6 - 8cm in diameter[].

The seed is edible[]. The seed kernels of the young fruits of the Javanese 'Pondoh' form are edible[].

Medicinal

None known

Agroforestry Uses:

A closely-planted row of palms forms an impregnable hedge and the very spiny leaves are also cut to construct fences[].

Other Uses

The bark of the petioles may be used for matting[].

The leaflets are used for thatching[].

Propagation

Seed - pre-soak for 24 hours in warm water and sow in containers[]. The seed needs to be fresh, it takes 2 - 3 months to germinate[]. The seeds are sown directly in the field (2-5 seeds together in 5 cm deep holes) or in nursery beds. The seedlings are planted out in the field during the rainy season when they are a few months old[].
Germination becomes visible when the cylindrical embryo-containing plug is extruded through the germpore at the kernel's apex. A radicle soon emerges from the tip of the plug and the shoot, a main root and several secondary roots emerge from the sides of this plug. About 60-90 days after sowing the first complete leaf, bifid and some 20-30 cm long, is fully expanded, the seedling still being firmly attached to the kernel[].
Division of suckers[].

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