SCIENTIFIC NAME: Hyphaene spp.

COMMON NAME(S): Gingerbread or Doum palms
SUB FAMILY: Coryphoideae
TRIBE: Borasseae
ORIGIN: Africa, Arabia and India
HARDINESS ZONES: 10B-11
TYPICAL MAXIMUM HEIGHT: 15-40'
GROWTH RATE: Slow
HABIT: Solitary or multi-trunked, rarely trunkless; branching; 20-30 leaves
SALT TOLERANCE: High
DROUGHT TOLERANCE: High
SOIL REQUIREMENTS: Widely adaptable
LIGHT REQUIREMENTS: High
NUTRITION REQUIREMENTS: Low
POPULAR USES: Specimen tree
HUMAN HAZARDS: Spiny
POPULAR OR RECOMMENDED CULTIVARS: None

COMMENTS: The gingerbread or doum palms comprise a group of about 10 species not yet well circumscribed from each other. They are a rarity within the palm family insofar as trunks of many of the species regularly branch well above the base. They are denizens of very arid regions by-and-large, but grow where sub-surface water can be mined by their deeply penetrating root systems. Their slow rate of growth and difficult handling has kept them from becoming well represented in nurseries and landscapes, but they are extremely tough palms, with some species that may even be hardy slightly north of USDA Zone 10. Thriving cultivated specimens of several species can be found in South Florida, southern California, and other subtropical and tropical regions. The sizable fruits are edible, though barely palatable, and have been utilized as subsistence or survival food. They are often pear- or top-shaped. A few of the ocassionally encountered species and their place of origin are: H. compressa (East Africa), H. thebaica (North Africa) and H. coriacea (Southeast Africa).