 Botany
Japanese oil palm has an erect trunk reaching a height of 4 to 10 meters. Leaves are numerous, 3 to 4.5 meters long. Petioles are broad, armed on the sides with spinescent, reduced leaves. Leaflets are numerous, linear-lanceolate, nearly 1 meter long, 2 to 4 cm wide. Male inflorescence is dense, having numerous, cylindric spikes which are 7 to 12 cm long and about 1 cm in diameter; the rachises excurrent as a stout awn. Female inflorescence is dense, branched, 20 to 30 cm long, the flowers densely disposed. Fruit is borne in large dense masses.
Distribution
Introduced.
Ornamental cultivation in Manila and larger towns.
Constituents
- Palm yields two kinds of oil: the palm oil and palm-kernel oil.
- Palm oil consists principally of palmitin and olein.
- The kernel oil consists chiefly of glyceride of layric acid, together with palmitic, oleic and myristic acids, some caprylic acid, capric acid and phytosterin.
- Phytochemical screening of a leaf extract yielded tannins, alkaloids, steroids, saponins, terpenoids and flavonoids.
- Analysis of lipid and sterol composition of the pollen yielded triglycerides, esterified and free sterols and trace amounts of hydrocarbons from the neutral lipid fraction. Major fatty acids were linoleic, palmitic, linolenic acids with small to trace amounts of oleic, stearic, arachidic, myristic, lauric, palmitoleic and margaric acids.
Parts used
Oil, fruits, roots, sap.
Uses
Folkloric
Not known medicinally in the Philippines.
In Guinea, oil is applied to wounds as a vulnerary.
Used as a liniment for rheumatism and courbature.
Elsewhere, poultice made from oil used for wounds.
In Equatorial West African, roots used as diuretic and fresh sap as laxative.
In South Eastern Nigeria, used for treatment of various diseases and skin infections.
Others
Oil: Palm oil chiefly used in the manufacture of soaps and candles. The palm-kernel oil is used for making vegetable butter.
Wine: In Aftrica, wine made from the trees.
Palm oil
• Oil palm is considered the highest yielding oil-bearing crop.
• Oil is extracted from the fruit pulp (palm oil) and the kernel (palm kernel oil). For every 100 kg of fruit bunches, 22 kg of palm oil ahd 1.6 kg of palm kernel oil can be extracted.
• It has a high oil yieled (7,259 liters per hectare per year), high levels of natural antioxidant, and comparatively cheaper pricing.
• It has more saturated fats than canola, corn linseed, soybean, safflower and sunflower oils and can withstand deepfry heat, with a resistance to oxidation.
Studies
• Wound Healing / Antimicrobial: Phytochemical screening yielded tannins, alkaloids, steroids, saponins, terpenoids and flavonoids. The extract showed significant activity against C albican. Results show a potent wound healing capacity as evidenced by better wound closures, improved tissue regeneration and histopath evidence, with a significant reduction of microbial count. • Wound Healing / Antimicrobial Study: Traditionally extracted palm oil and palm kernel oil, tested individually on five microorganisms - S aurues, E coli, P aeruginosa, C albicans and A niger - showed inhibition. When the extracts were mixed, only E coli was minimally inhibited.
Lipid Oxidation: Supplementaion of palm oil as an antioxidant to a certain extent reduced lipid oxidation in healthy rats; but worsened or not significantly inhibited in diabetic rats.
Availability
Commercially, as oil products.
Pellets, tinctures, dilutions in the cybermarkets.
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