Wild Date Palm

 
Setswana Name:  Tsaro
 
Botanical Name: 

Phoenix reclinata

 
Family:

Palm Family (Arecaceae)
 

Only two species of palm tree occur in the Okavango Delta and in Moremi, i.e. the Wild date palm and the Real Fan Palm. They are very easy to distinguish, since the Fan palm has fan-shaped leaves and the Wild date palm has feather-shaped leaves. This evergreen palm does not grow much more than 6m in height and often occurs in dense stands, with one or more curving stems rising above the rest.
 
The leaves are 3-4m long. Feather-like with up to 50 leaflets a side. Basal leaflets are spiny and the others are dark green and smooth.
 
Flowers are inflorescence borne in axils of young leaves near the apex of the stem. Male and female are on separate plants. Male florets are caduceus and pale dirty-yellow. Female florets are small, globose and yellow-green. The fruits are small and borne in large, pendant clusters. Fruit pulp is fairly fleshy, yellow when young and brown at maturity with one seed inside. Fruit turns brown when ripe, from February to April, and bright orange when mature. While edible and sweet when ripe, the fruit tastes astringent when green.
 
The fruit is eaten by mousebirds, elephant (who also eat roots and leaves) baboon and monkey (who also eat the shoots). The larvae of the large brown butterfly, (palm tree night fighter, Zaphotetes dysmephilai) feeds off the leaves.
 
While the fruit is edible, it has little flesh. The leaves are used to make mats, baskets and hats. Brooms for sweeping around rural dwellings are made from the dried inflorescences. The midrib of the frond is used to construct fish enclosures (kraals). Palm wine is made from the sap. The heart of the crown is sometimes eaten by people. Children enjoy the gum produced by the roots.
 
This species thrives only where a permanent high water-table exists as is the case in the swamp, which accounts for its absence in the dry land areas. Together with papyrus, this palm tree dominates the Okavango Delta swamps. The Wild date palm, being water-dependant, is often an indication of an earlier permanent water flow in a particular area, even if there is no water visible at the time.