Nypa fruticans Wurmb
Nipa Palm / Nipah (Bru.)
Description
Traditional Medicinal Uses
Ecology
Propagation
Distribution
Precaution
Freshwater to brackish large palm that can reach up to 9 m tall. Leaves are pinnately compound, alternately arranged, erect, forming tufts of 3-5 per plant. Leaflets are linear, single-folded, leathery and stiff but flexible. Midrib of each leaflet is marked with brown scales abaxially. Stems are lying flat on ground, creeping, branching and forming large colonies. Inflorescence a solitary catkin that arises from the underground stem. Male and female flowers develop separately on the inflorescence. Female flowers form a spherical head with no staminodes, surrounded by male flowers. Male flowers form a catkin below the female inflorescence head. Fruit an obovoid brown drupe. Seeds are
The fresh leaves are pounded in sufficient amounts in a mortar, added with three cloves of onion ( Allium cepa ) and three seeds of fennel flowers or black cumin ( Nigella sativa ) and applied as a poultice to skin area to cure abscesses. Alternatively, three fresh fruits are swallowed as pills. Root decoction is mixed with coconut oil and used to treat body fatigue. The leaves are made into a poultice with Mangifera caesia (Binjai or Belunu) to treat itchy skin from the latex.
It thrives on swampy and muddy areas with brackish water. It prefers silt, clay and humus soil under full sunlight.
Seeds and rhizome division.
Ranging from Sri Lanka through to the west Pacific, South-East Asia, northwest and northeast Australia. It has been introduced to West Africa, Central America
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