ABSTRACT
This chapter provides information on uses, folk medicine, chemistry, germplasm, distribution, ecology, cultivation, harvesting, yields, energy, and biotic factors of Hyphaene Thebaica (L.) Mart. (Arecaceae) Doum Palm. Unripe kernels are edible, but the ripe kernels are hard as a marble, and even strung together to make a weapon. In Bornu Africa, the nuts are pounded to make a meal sold instead of millet. The rind of the fruits is dry and sweet, edible in some, inedible in others. The part of the germinating seedling just below ground is edible, as is the cabbage or palm heart. Trunks yield a sago starch. According to Hartwell the fruits are used in folk remedies for indurations of the limbs. The thick root is used in African folk remedies for hematuria, in some cases due to bilharzia. According to Boulos, the resin from the tree, diaphoretic and diuretic, is recommended both for tapeworm and for the bites of poisonous animals.
