Oil palm

Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis), also called African oil palm, is a palm of the palm family (Arecaceae) native to West and Central Africa and now widely planted throughout the tropics. It has a single stem 20–30 m tall and 30–50 cm thick that lives 25–30 years; its pinnate leaves, 3–5 m long, form a crown and have spiny petioles. The tree is monoecious, with male and female inflorescences borne separately on the same plant, pollinated by wind and insects. The fruit is a drupe 3–5 cm long arranged in bunches weighing 10–25 kg; the fruit flesh is pressed for palm oil while the kernel yields palm kernel oil. It is the world's most important oil-producing crop, accounting for much of global vegetable oil output, concentrated in Indonesia and Malaysia.

The oil palm is among the most important industrial oil crops: red palm oil pressed from the fruit flesh is used in cooking and is rich in carotene (pro-vitamin A) and tocotrienol vitamin E; palm kernel oil is used in margarine, confectionery, cosmetics, soap, candles, biodiesel and oleochemicals. The press cake provides animal feed, empty fruit bunches become organic fertiliser and biomass fuel, and flower sap is fermented into palm wine. The palm prefers a hot, humid tropical climate with 1500–3000 mm of rain a year, below 500 m, on well-drained, fertile soils; it is propagated by seed (commonly the Tenera hybrid) and starts fruiting after 3–4 years. Oil palm expansion has major impacts on tropical forests.