Phoenix reclinata

General Info – summary

The evergreen Tree with slender stem is usually to 6m high & may be multi-stemmed.  Leaves pinnately compound arching. Leaflets long  & lanceolate.  Basal leaflets reduced to spines.  Dioecious Flowers in pendulous panicles.  Male: 6 stamens and joined filament bases.  Female: ovary with 3 carpels, 6 staminodes and a sessile stigma.  Edible Fruit has 1 ovoid ventrally grooved seed with a fleshy covering.

Description

SA Tree No. 22.

Common names: (Afr) Palmboom, Rivierpalm, Wilde-dadelboom, Wildedadelboom, Wildedatel, Wilde-koffie.  (Eng) Cape Date Palm, Coffee Palm, Feather Palm, Wild Date, Wild Date Palm.  (isiXhosa) Idama, Isundu.  (isiZulu) Idama, Isundu.  (Northern Sotho) Mopalamo.  (Setswana) Akindu, Mosêfa, Ncindzu, Tsaro.  (siSwati) Lilala, Lisundvu.  (Tshivenda) Mutshema, Mutshevho, Mutzhema.

Family: Arecaceae, Palmae (Palm family).  There are about 180 genera and in excess of 2 500 species in these monocotyledonous plants.  The usually unbranched Trunk is covered with persistent leaf bases or with transverse scars.  The tree is evergreen and mature Leaves are pinnately or palmately compound.  They occur at the apex of the trunk.  The Petiole or rachis is often armed with prickles.  The Flowers are in a spadix (a thick fleshy spike inflorescence) surrounded by a spathe (a leaf-like curved bract).  They are small and usually unisexual with male flowers in the upper part of the spadix.  The 3 sepals and 3 petals are free or fused below.  Male flowers usually have 6 stamens.  Female flowers may have staminodes present and are usually 3-locular with 1 ovule in each.  Fruit is a berry or a drupe with up to 3 seeds.  In southern Africa, there are 5 genera and 6 species.  Genera on this website include Jubaeopsis, Phoenix, and Raphia.

Name derivation: Phoenix from the Greek word for the commercial date palm.  reclinata – bent down / backwards – referring to the reclining leaves.  Phoenix reclinata is the only indigenous species of the genus Phoenix in southern Africa.

Conservation: National Status: L C (Least concern).  Assessment 2017/08/28. (L. von Staden).

Tree

This palm Tree (photo 201) is usually 3-6m high but may reach 10m.  It may reach 30cm wide.  This plant may also grow as a stemless, suckering bush and may have short multiple stems.  The distinct unbranched slender Trunk is either upright, or it may slowly and attractively lean far over in large trees.  In this case, the apex tends to point upwards.  Suckers may also be present.  These plants are often multi-stemmed from the base.  The trunk is brown to black and up to 30cm wide.  Persistent old leaf bases are initially present (photo 81).  The current functional leaves are higher up.  Old leaves eventually fall and the trunk becomes smooth lower down.  A dense mass of roots, less than 1cm in diameter may appear on the trunk just above ground level.  These aids survival in waterlogged areas.

Leaves

This evergreen tree has light or dark green Leaves that are feather shaped.  They have pinnately compound (about 50 pairs of leaflets are arranged along opposite sides of the central rachis – the main axis bearing flowers or leaflets – photo 203).  The leaflet length is up to 45cm.  The attractive arching leaves are concentrated forming a single crown, with 2o to 34 leaves.  These develop at the apex of the trunk.  The overall appearance of the mature tree is palm-like.  About one third of the slightly lower leaves are dead or dying (photo 201 under Tree).  Towards the Petiole (leaf stalk) the parallel veined leaflets are reduced to thin, yellowish Spines but the petiole itself is unarmed.  Spines are long with a sharp pointed Apex (photo 868) and decrease in size towards the base.  Each living leaf is between 3 and 4m long, up to 75cm wide.  The parallel veined leaflets are folded along the rachis.  Petiolules (stalks of leaflets) are absent.  Old leaves are grey and hang down from the crown (photo 998).

Flowers

The dense, spiny leaves make the Flowers somewhat difficult to observe.  In early summer, these small, cream coloured flowers develop in long sprays (photo 950).  Unlike the Jubaeopsis caffra (the pondo palm) these plants are dioecious (unisexual flowers with male and female on different trees).  The flowers are produced in unisexual Panicles (indeterminate, branched inflorescence with stalked flowers).  Here they are small, and regularly spaced along the inflorescence – not in groups (photos 950 & 216).  The 3-toothed Calyx is cupular (shaped like a small, inverted cup or dome shaped – photo 216).  In Male Flowers, the Corolla has 3 Petals which are valvate (meeting by the edge without overlapping).  Here the Ovary is a vestigial (imperfectly developed, non-functional relic that is usually smaller).   The Anthers have 2 Thecae (pollen sacs) which open lengthwise.  The 6 Stamens which are joined at the base produce clouds of Pollen.  The Female Flowers are nearly spherical (photo 216).  The Calyx is cup-shaped, and the Corolla has 3 short, oblong Petals which are truncate (appear to have been cut off at the end).  Six Staminodes (sterile stamens) are present with joined bases forming a membranous cup.  There is a single Pistil (a unit of the Gynoecium, the female element of the flower, composed of the Ovary, Style and Stigma).  The inferior Ovary has 3 Locules (compartments within an organ – photo 216) with a solitary Ovule in each.  The Stigmas (stigma – the part of the pistil that receives the pollen) are sessile and brown in photo 216).  (Aug-Dec).

Fruit

The oblong, yellowish fleshy Fruit occurs in large, hanging bunches (photo 83) Each is ovoid to oblong and 1-1,5cm long.  The fruit is similar but smaller and less fleshy than in Phoenix dactylifera (the non-indigenous date palm).  The fruit is initially green (photo 160) and becomes bright yellow or orange to brownish when ripe.  (Jan-Aug).  With time, only the supporting branches remain (photo 402).

Distribution & Ecology

These relatively low altitude Trees usually grow close to water, near riverbanks, streams and in or near forests.  They are also found in seasonally inundated and swamp edges.  This is a relatively fast growing tree and can resist low temperatures down to – 4°C.  It is drought and salt spray tolerant.  Trees occur from the Bathurst district in the Eastern Cape – between Nelson Mandela Bay and Buffalo City.  They also occur up the coast in Kwa-Zulu-Natal e.g., Mosi Swamps – close to Mozambique that are about 80m above sea level, Mpumalanga and Limpopo.  Beyond South Africa, they are found in Eswatini (Swaziland), Mozambique, and northwards to the Okavango Swamps in North West Botswana – where they are often associated with termite mounds.  Plants occur in Zimbabwe, northern and eastern Namibia and as far as Egypt and the Arabian Peninsula.  They also grow in Madagascar and Comoro islands.  The tree has reportedly been naturalized in Florida, Puerto Rico and Bermuda.  Fruits attract birds, including mousebirds and many mammals – including monkeys.  Baboons and elephants consume the soft Shoots.  Elephants consume the fruit, leaves and stems.  The butterfly larvae of “Noisy” Palm Tree Night Fighter (Zophopetes dysmephila). lay eggs on leaves and the larvae feed on these leaves of this and other Phoenix species, as well as on Raphia and Crocus species.  These butterflies are found in South Africa from Port Elizabeth, through KwaZulu Natal, Mpumalanga and also in Mozambique and Kenya.  Bees visit the Flowers.

Ethnobotany

Tree Sap increases before flowering and is tapped from the flower head.  This sap and that of the palm Hyphaene coriacea are used to make an alcoholic drink.  Roots produce an edible gum.  Buds are consumed raw or cooked.  Leaf midribs are used to manufacture baskets, long-lasting mats and hut walls.  Leaves are used to make the Xhosa boys initiation kilts.  Young Leaf bases are edible.  Leaves are used to make ropes.  The Rachis (main axis of a leaf) is used in kraal construction.  Brushes and brooms are made from fruiting stem fibres, which are first beaten until the fibres part.  In times of need stem cores can be eaten.  Dried inflorescences are used to make sweeping brooms.  The edible Fruit is thinly fleshy, sweet when ripe, but astringent (a substance which causes biological tissue to contract) when green.  The fruit is smaller but closely related to the date palm (Phoenix dactylifera), which is not indigenous in SA.  Local people use spines and leaf petioles medicinally.  New growth easily occurs from Seeds, which germinate and transplant readily.  Planted trees help to stabilise stream banks and make a decorative garden plant which can be enhanced by pruning to a single stem.

References

Boon, R. 2010. Pooley’s Trees of eastern South Africa. Flora and Fauna Publications Trust, Durban.

Burrows, J.E., Burrows, S.M., Lotter, M.C. & Schmidt, E. 2018. Trees and Shrubs Mozambique.  Publishing Print Matters (Pty) Ltd.  Noordhoek, Cape Town.

Coates Palgrave, M. 2002. Keith Coates Palgrave Trees of Southern Africa, edn 3. Struik, Cape Town.

Lawrence, G. H. M, 1951. Taxonomy of Vascular Plants. The Macmillan Company, New York. Tenth Printing 1965.

Palmer, E. & Pitman, N. 1972. Trees of southern Africa. Balkema, Amsterdam, Cape Town.

Schmidt, S. Lotter, M. & McCleland, W. 2002. Trees and Shrubs of Mpumalanga and the Kruger National Park. Jacana, Johannesburg.

van Wyk, B. & van Wyk, P. 1997 Field guide to Trees of Southern Africa. Struik, Cape Town.

von Staden, L. 2017. Phoenix reclinata Jacq. National Assessment: Red List of South African Plants version 2024.1. Accessed on 2025/09/26.

 

http://www.southcoastgrowersflorida.com/reclinata.html

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/st440

http://worldagroforestry.org/treedb2/AFTPDFS/Phoenix_reclinata.PDF

http://posa.sanbi.org/flora/browse.php?src=SP

http://hort.ufl.edu/trees/PHORECA.pdf