Skip to main content

Gebang (Corypha utan)

Gebang or agel (Corypha utan) is a plant species in Arecaceae, a large palm tree, single trunked, hard and has a leaf mark, up to 20 meters high and at the apex of growing long-stemmed leaves and coincide, flowering only once throughout life.

C. utan has large fan-shaped leaves with a diameter of 2-3.5 meters, pinnate leaf bones, green and collected at the end of the stem. Petiole has a length of up to 7 meters, wide, dark green, has a groove, has a row of black spines on both edges.

Dlium Gebang (Corypha utan)


Cylindrical rod, the outside is a hard and dense layer of skin, the inside contains vertical fibers, brownish in color and emits a reddish-brown sap, has circular segments which are traces of fronds that fall out as the phase changes in growth.

Gebang flower and fruit only once at the end of the life span after all leaves die at the age of 60-70 years. The flowers appear at the end of the stem in the terminal, panicles 3-5 meters with hundreds of thousands of flowers, greenish yellow and fragrant. Ball-shaped fruit, short-stemmed, green and 2-3 cm in diameter.

This palm grows spread in the lowlands to an altitude of 300 meters, open grasslands, streams, edges of swamps and sometimes in hilly areas. This tree grows into many groups forming a vast forest belt near the beach.

Young leaves are processed into a variety of woven materials including mats, hats, bags, sacks, ropes, nets and traditional clothing. Fiber is produced from leaf stalks that are cut into pieces, soaked and processed further. This fiber is spun into a rope or woven into hats.





Soft tree trunks are processed as flour for cakes that are burned and eaten with bananas. Gebang stems produce 90 kg of flour for each tree. Roots to treat diarrhea, water from the midrib is used as an anti-poison, reddish sap from the shoots of the stem is used to treat wounds, coughs and dysentery.

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Liliopsida
Order: Arecales
Family: Arecaceae
Subfamily: Coryphoideae
Tribe: Corypheae
Genus: Corypha
Species: Corypha utan

Popular Posts

Blue pea (Clitoria ternatea)

Blue pea ( Clitoria ternatea ) is a species of plant in the Fabaceae family. It is a climbing herb with compound leaves, 5-7 leaflets, up to 12 cm long. The leaflets are oval to round, up to 4 cm long and 3 cm wide, and green. The flowers are blue and white, up to 5 cm long and 3.5 cm wide. The pods are up to 11 cm long and 1 cm wide. TAXON Kingdom: Plantae Phylum: Tracheophyta Subphylum: Angiospermae Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Fabales Family: Fabaceae Subfamily: Faboideae Tribe: Phaseoleae Subtribe: Clitoriinae Genus: Clitoria L. in Sp. Pl.: 753 (1753) Species: Clitoria ternatea L. in Sp. Pl.: 753 (1753) HOMOTYPIC SYNONYMS Clitoria spectabilis Salisb. in Prodr. Stirp. Chap. Allerton: 336 (1796) Nauchea ternatea (L.) J.-T.Descourt. in Mém. Soc. Linn. Paris 4: 8 (1826) Ternatea ternatea (L.) Kuntze in Revis. Gen. Pl. 3(2): 72 (1898) Ternatea vulgaris Kunth in F.W.H.von Humboldt, A.J.A.Bonpland & C.S.Kunth, Nov. Gen. Sp. 6: 415 (1824) HETEROTYPIC SYNONYMS Clitoria albiflora Matte...

A deep-sea isopod Bathyopsurus nybelini adapted to feed submerged Sargassum algae

NEWS - Incredible footage shows a marine species, Bathyopsurus nybelini , feeding on something that sinks from the ocean’s surface. Researchers using the submersible Alvin found the isopod swimming 3.7 miles down using its paddle-like legs to catch an unexpected food source: Sargassum. Researchers from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), the University of Montana, SUNY Geneseo, Willamette University and the University of Rhode Island found the algae sinking, while the isopod waited and adapted specifically to find and feed on the sinking nutrient source. The Sargassum lives on the surface for photosynthesis. The discovery of a deep-sea animal that relies on food that sinks from the waters miles above underscores the close relationship between the surface and the deep. “It’s fascinating to see this beautiful animal actively interacting with sargassum, so deep in the ocean. This isopod is extremely rare; only a handful of specimens were collected during the groundbreaking Swedis...

Dadmari (Ammannia baccifera)

Dadmari ( Ammannia baccifera ) is a species of plant in the Lythraceae, an erect, branched herb, up to 50 cm tall, with slightly angular stems and narrow, oblong leaves about 3.5 cm long. The flowers are about 1.2 mm long, greenish or purplish, and grow in dense axillary clusters. TAXON Kingdom: Plantae Phylum: Tracheophyta Subphylum: Angiospermae Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Myrtales Family: Lythraceae Genus: Ammannia L. in Sp. Pl.: 119 (1753) Species: Ammannia baccifera L. in Sp. Pl.: 120 (1753) HOMOTYPIC SYNONYMS Ammannia baccifera f. genuina Koehne in Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 1: 260 (1880) Ammannia baccifera f. typica Koehne (1880) HETEROTYPIC SYNONYMS Celosia bicolor Blanco in Fl. Filip.: 191 (1837) Celosia nana Blanco (1837) Ammannia apiculata Koehne (1880) Ammannia attenuata Hochst. ex A.Rich. in Tent. Fl. Abyss. 1: 278 (1848) Ammannia attenuata var. latifolia Koehne (1880) Ammannia attenuata var. micromerioides Chiov. in Bull. Soc. Bot. Ital. 1917: 27 (1917) Ammannia attenuata f. pe...