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Caryota urens L.

Synonym                    : No synonyms are recorded for this name

Family                        : Arecaceae

Local Names              : Chundapanna, Olatti, Elephant’s palm, Jaggery Palm

Flowering and fruiting period: January – April 

Distribution: Indo-Malesia

Habitat: Evergreen forests, also in the plains

IUCN status: Least Concern

Endemic: Yes

Uses: The fibers are manufactured into ropes, brushes, brooms, baskets. From the pith a good variety of "sago" is obtained which is highly nutritious. Toddy is also obtained from this palm. Terminal bud is edible.

Key Characters: Monoecious stout tall palms, trunk smooth with prominent annular leaf-scars.  Leaves bipinnate.  Spadix interfoliar, shortly peduncled, pendulous; spathes few.  Flowers many, in triads with female flower in the middle.  Sepals 3, rounded, imbricate.  Petals linear-oblong, valvate.  Stamens many.  Ovary 3-celled, 3-gonous; ovule 1-per locule.  Fruit globose, reddish purple; seeds plano-convex, subreniform.