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

Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) manufacture bubble-nets as tools to increase prey intake

NEWS - Humpback whales ( Megaptera novaeangliae ) create bubble net tools while foraging, consisting of internal tangential rings, and actively control the number of rings, their size, depth and horizontal spacing between the surrounding bubbles. These structural elements of the net increase prey intake sevenfold. Researchers have known that humpback whales create “bubble nets” for hunting, but the new report shows that the animals also manipulate them in a variety of ways to maximize catches. The behavior places humpbacks among the rare animals that make and use their own tools. “Many animals use tools to help them find food, but very few actually make or modify these tools themselves,” said Lars Bejder, director of the Marine Mammal Research Program (MMRP), University of Hawaii at Manoa. “Humpback whales in southeast Alaska create elaborate bubble nets to catch krill. They skillfully blow bubbles in patterns that form a web with internal rings. They actively control details such ...

Tripa tiger moth (Nannoarctia tripartita)

Tripa tiger moth ( Nannoarctia tripartita ) is an animal species in the Erebidae, a moth with a forewing length of 14-18 mm, predominantly black or dark brown with white and orange hues, thick fur on the dorsal surface, long legs and antennae, living in forest scrub and agricultural land. N. tripartita in females has forewings 15-18 mm long, black or dark brown with slightly oblique transverse and few spots. The hind wings are yellow with large dark discal points and three other dots. Males have forewings 14-17 mm long, black or dark brown with transverse oblique postdiscal bands and several spots. The hind wings are yellow with brown costal margins, discal confluent points, wide ridges on the crest and angular points in the tornus. The head has a thin orange pattern and a pair of long black antennae. Long legs are black. Tripa tiger moths live in forest scrub, farmland and roadsides. More stationary by sticking to the leaf surface at the top. Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Arthropod...

Javan mocca or Javan slender caesar (Amanita javanica)

OPINION - Javan mocca or Javan slender caesar ( Amanita javanica ) is a mysterious fungus species and has been enigmatic since it was first reported by Boedijn in 1951 and after that no explanation or reporting of specimens is believed to be the same as expected. Boedijn (1951) described A. javanica which grew on Java island as having the characteristics covered in the Amanita genus. Corner and Bas in 1962 tried to describe Javan mocca and all species in Amanita based on specimens in Singapore. Over time some reports say that they have found A. javanica specimens in other Southeast Asia including also China, Japan, India and Nepal. But there is no definitive knowledge and many doubt whether the specimen is the same as described by Boedijn (1951). I was fortunate to have seen this species one afternoon and soon I took out a camera for some shots. In fact, I've only met this mushroom species once. Javan mocca is an endangered species and I have never seen in my experience in...