Palmyra

Borassus flabellifer is a large evergreen unbranched palm tree growing up to 30 m high. 
Old leaves remain attached to the trunk for several years before falling cleanly. 
The stem can be up to 1 m wide at the base, narrowing to 50 cm at around 4 m.

The bark of Borassus flabellifer is ringed grey with leaf scars. 
The trunk is slim, straight, solitary and goes up to 1 m in diameter.
Borassus flabellifer is single stemmed. 
The unbranched cylindrical stem can be more than 1 m wide at the base and crowned by stiffly projecting fan-shaped leaves.

The leaf of Borassus flabellifer is a fan-shaped palm. 
The leaves form a globose crown of rigid palmate leaves. 
Each leaf is 1.50 m to 2.50 m long, and 1 to 3 m wide. 
They are folded along the midrib. 
The strong stalks, about 1 m long, are edged with hard spines.

The male and female flowers of Borassus flabellifer are borne in separate trees. 
The species is dioecious (the gender determination happens only until flowering, after 12-20 years). 
The female inflorescence is a white sparingly branched pendant cluster called a spadix. 
The male inflorescence is a simple branched spadix. 
The female flowers are globose, yellow to green. 
The size of the female flowers can be up to 2 cm. 
The male flowers are smaller, less than 1 cm long.

The fruit of Borassus flabellifer is a globose to subglobose fleshy brown drupe. 
Each fruit contain 1 to 3 large seeds. They become rounded or more or less oval. 
Their size varies from 15 to 20 cm in diameter and weights 1 to 3 kg. 
The fruits are produced in large clusters pending from the leaf axil. 
The fruits have a small green cap on the part closest to the stem with overlapping sepals. 
The ripe fruit has a yellow edible pulp with a distinctive aroma.

The seed of Borassus flabellifer is a drupe. 
The young solid or gelatinous endosperm (kernel) of the seeds is eaten fresh.