Rescue of an "Extinct" Palm

The palm group of plants, due to its beauty and economic importance, has earned the attention of the Species Survival Commission. Those species that need special attention are the monocarpic palms which, on account of their remarkable habit, produce flowers and fruits only once in their life with faint chances of natural regeneration. Corypha umbraculifera and C. taliera are two such species of South Asia, the former being the Talipot palm of south India and Sri Lanka, and the latter endemic to Bengal, hitherto believed to be extinct in the wild. Both the species have massive stems, very large fan-shaped leaves and produce spectacular tall inflorescences on top of the crowns at the end of their vegetative development.

In the early 1950s a solitary tree, about 10 feet (3m) high, resembling a palmyra palm but still distinct with its enormous leaves and greyish stem, was found growing in a scrub jungle on the Dhaka University campus. The specimen was then doubtfully identified as a species of Corypha. Considering it a rare, unknown palm that we might lose during the fast development project of the University, the first author (M. Salar Khan), then a lecturer in botany, asked the University's engineering department to protect this palm. Subsequently, other senior teachers and enthusiasts became interested, and for the sake of conservation, the palm has been sheltered within the enclosure of the recently built residential quarters of the Pro Vice-Chancellor.

With the protection of the palm ensured, the identity of the specimen was narrowed down to two species, Corypha umbraculifera and C. taliera. The correct identity in the absence of fertile material had to wait until it was confirmed by the third author (Shymal Kumar Basu) on his recent visit to Dhaka, as definitely Corypha taliera Roxb. Distinguished by the deciduous leaf bases on the stem (not persisting as in Corypha umbraculifera), C. taliera (Bangla: Tali) was discovered in 1919 in Bengal by William Roxburgh who regarded it as endemic to Bengal. The only record of this palm growing wild was in Birbhum district of West Bengal in a village near Shantiniketan where it was in the early fruiting stage in 1979, but the seeds could not be saved as the villagers cut down the tree along with its tall pyramidal inflorescence fearing it to be a ghost palmyra tree! A cultivated specimen in Howrah botanic garden ultimately flowered and its seeds were saved and raised to seedlings, and some were sent to the Fairchild Tropical Garden, Florida.

The Dhaka tree is now approximately 25 feet (7.5 m) tall with its new crown of leaves topping the old ones that are withering and breaking off. It is estimated that the tree may start producing its enormous terminal inflorescence in approximately 10 years, before it gradually dies off after the production of fruits. The botanists and conservationists living on the campus have been alerted to report immediately the emergence of the inflorescence stalk at the top of the crown in time so that the spectacular event can be witnessed and appropriate steps taken to see that the collection of fruits is ensured to conserve this palm through ex situ propagation.

In the absence of any other record, our palm at Dhaka may be considered the only individual of the species in the wild that needs to be propagated through living germ plasm banks. It is hoped that timely cooperation will be forthcoming from conservation agencies when the fruits of Corypha taliera at Dhaka are ripe and ready to be harvested.
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M. Salar Khan, Md. Abul Hassan and Shyamal Kumar Basu,
Indian Subcontinent Plant Specialist Group
[Courtesy: Newsletter of the Species Survival Commission, IUCN]
[ Photo Courtesy: Institution and Policy Support Unit (IPSU), MoEF]