**Description**:
– Nipa palm trunk grows beneath the ground
– Leaves extend up to 9 meters in height
– Flowers are a globular inflorescence
– Woody nuts arranged in a globular cluster
– Ripe nuts float away on the tide
**Fossil Record**:
– Genus Nypa once had a global distribution in the Eocene
– Fossil mangrove palm pollen dated to 70 million years ago in India
– Fossil fruits and seeds described from Egypt
– Fossilized nuts of Nypa dating to the Eocene found in England
– Fossils of Nypa found in North and South America
**Distribution and Habitat**:
– Nipa palms grow in soft mud and slow-moving waters
– Found from India to the Pacific Islands
– Moderately salt-tolerant, prefers brackish waters
– Native to various Asian countries and Australia
– Naturalized in Nigeria, French Polynesia, Panama, Trinidad
**Ecology**:
– Long-tailed macaques, proboscis monkeys, Bornean orangutans consume parts of nipa palm
– Fungal species found on the palm in Malaysia
– Supports monsoonal or seasonal rainfall regimes
– Indicates tropical climates
– Eocene distribution suggests global warmth
**Uses**:
– Nipa palm leaves used for thatching roofs and in basketry
– Stems used to train swimmers
– Sap fed to pigs for flavored meat
– Leaves used for roof covering in Cambodia
– Epidermises used as cigarette papers
**Food and Beverages**:
– Young flower stalk and hard seeds are edible
– Sap tapped to yield sweet, edible sap for local alcoholic beverages
– Tuba can be stored to make vinegar
– Distilled to make arrack
– Young shoots and flower petals are also edible