Crown Jewel: Oil palm

Elaeis guineensis Jacq
Family: Arecaceae

The oil palm produces two kinds of oil: palm oil that is extracted from the pulp of the fruit and palm kernel oil that is extracted from the seeds. The oil palm has the highest yield per hectare of all oil-producing plants. Palm oil is mostly used in the margarine industry, but also in the metal and chemical industry. Palm kernel olie is mostly used for the production of margarine and other edible fats. It is also the main ingredient of good-quality soap.

The Hortus has played a large role in the distribution of the oil palm. This plant grows naturally in West Africa, including Guinea. In the first half of the 19th Century, seeds arrived at the Amsterdam Hortus from either Mauritius or Réunion. In 1848, two seedlings were shipped to Buitenzorg (Indonesia) for cultivation. These palms have formed the basis for the large oil-palm plantations on Sumatra that were set up from 1919 on. The

'Deli' cultivar turned out to be very productive and has since been planted on a large scale in other parts of South East Asia and Africa.

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