ABSTRACT
This chapter provides information on the uses, folk medicine, chemistry, germplasm, distribution, ecology, cultivation, harvesting, yields, energy, and biotic factors of Sugar Palm. Sugar palm is grown for its sugar, starch, and fiber. Sap contains 20 to 40% more sucrose than average sugarcane. Various products may be harvested from the sugar palm. Starch in the trunks is converted into sugar and moves into the inflorescence when it begins to develop. Sugar palm is virtually insect-, pest-, and disease-free, one fungus attacking the palm being Ganoderma pseudoferreum. In the East Indies, leaves are damaged by the rhinoceros beetle, and dead palms are reported to harbor these beetles, which cause serious damage to coconut palms. Fermented sap taken for tuberculosis in the Philippines and Indonesia; for sprue, dysentery, constipation, and hemorrhoids in Java. Roots are used to make a medicine for stone in the bladder in Java.
