Nypa palm ( Nypa fruticans Wurmb . ) A new record from Kerala

Nypa fruticans Wurmb, commonly known as the Nypa palm, is a species of palm native to the coastlines and estuarine habitats of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the only palm considered adapted to the mangrove biome. This species is the only member of its genus Nypa which is in turn, the only member of the subfamily Nypoideae forming monotypic taxa (Moore 1973; Uhl & Dransfeld 1987; Whitmore 1973).

Nypa is one of the most common widely distributed and useful palms in the mangrove forests of Southeast Asia. It is known by different names in different countries: attap palm (Singapore), buah atap (Indonesia), buah Nypah (Malaysia), ging pol (Sri Lanka), gol pata (Bangladesh) and dani (Burma). Recently, Malaysian scientists realized the usefulness of Nypa again and strategies for effective management of Nypa were proposed (Latiff 2008) In Nigeria, various parts of the Nypa Palm are used for several purposes (Udofia and Udo, 2005). In spite of such usefulness, there is in general a lack of scientific reports on Nypa compared with other useful tropical palms such as coconut and oil palm. Despite these uses, it is regarded as a nuisance in Nigeria because of its adverse ecological impacts on waterways and marine lives (Etukudo, 2001). The same plant is regarded as an endangered species in Singapore (Hutton, 1996) where technologies for the utilization for bio-ethanol production has being greatly explored. Lack of scientific technology on the utilization of any species generally results in under utilization and inadequate management. In India, this plant is unknown to common people even though much similar to coconut palm. Kerala, one of the coastal state of India has the ample scope of using this palm along with coconut palm for producing oils, fuels, tuba an alcoholic beverage, and for protecting the coastal area from natural calamities.
Unlike the other palms, it lacks an upright stem, which is the characteristic feature of the palms. The palm also exhibits a colonial growth habit, with its trunk or stem under mud, only the leaves projecting upwards.
The long feathery leaves of Nypa palm is used by local populations as roof material for thatched houses or dwellings. The leaves are also used in many types of basketry and thatching. Large stems or rhizomes are used to train swimming in Burma as it has buoyancy.
On the islands of Roti and Savu, Nypa palm sap is fed to pigs during dry season. This is said to impart a sweet flavour to meat. The young leaves are used to wrap tobacco for smoking.
In the Philippines and Malaysia, the flower cluster or inflorescence can be tapped before it blooms to yield a sweet edible sap collected to produce a local alcoholic beverage called tuba, bahal or tauk. Tuba can be stored in tapayan (balloon vases) for several weeks to make a kind of vinegar known as sukang paombong in the Philippines cuka Nypah in Malaysia. Tuba can also be distilled to make arrack, locally known as lambonag in Filipino and arak in Indonesian.
Young shoots are also edible and the flower petals can be infused to make an aromatic tisane. Attap ghee is a name for the immature fruits, its endosperm that is sweet translucent gelatinous balls used as a desert ingredient in Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore.
Nypa palm inhabits estuarine habitats, grows up to 10 m tall and produces large buoyant propagules that are dispersed with ocean currents. The genus Nypa is monotypic with Nypa fruticans Wurmb. being its only species. It is one of the ancient angiosperms and probably the oldest species of palm (Paivake 1996 in Teo etal.2010).
Its thick prostrate, rhizomatous stem branches dichotomously underground and new plants grow vegetatively from each branch, often creating dense strands. Leaves pinnatisect, leaflets lanceolate, plicate. Spathes many, sheathing. Spadix terminal, branched, erect, fruiting drooping; flowers monoecious, male in catkin like lateral branches of the spadix, female in a globose terminal head, perianth glumacious (figure 1 and 2)  Individual fruits are dispersed by the tides and currents (figure 6). As an adaptation to the submerged environment, the fruit is designed to float, and this buoyancy is attributed to its thick fibrous mesocarp (figure 6). Seed erect grooved on one side, testa coriaceous and viscid within and adherent to the endocarp, hilum broad; albumen equable, hollow; embryo basilar, obconic (figure 7). Seed of Nypa is endospermous with translucent gelatinous balls acts as endosperm. Pericarp is fleshy and fibrous with three layers of outer epicarp, middle mesocarp and inner endocarp (Figure 7 and 8). The endocarp is spongy and flowery. Germination percentage of seeds is very low. Seeds show vivipary as true mangroves.
Viviparous seeds show high germination rate .Viviparous seeds collected from the site, germinated and seedlings were raised and one is planted in the botanical garden of St'Teresa's College, Ernakulam (figure 9). This oldest Angiosperm species is reported and illustrated with a view that the material will be useful at the time of the revision of the flora of Indiaa scheme undertaken by the Botanical Survey of India.