It grows up to 20 metres (66 feet) tall, and, on the Cape York Peninsula of Queensland, up to 1.5 meters (4' 11") thick[2] (exceeded only by Borassus aethiopum and Jubaea chilensis) and bears palmate fronds 4 to 6 m (13 to 20 ft) long. Like other palms of the genus Corypha, this species flowers at the end of its lifetime (monocarpy), producing a massive inflorescence up to 5 m tall containing up to one million flowers.[3]
It is distributed from the Assam region of India through Indochina, Malaysia, and Indonesia to the Philippines and New Guinea, and south to Australia's Cape York Peninsula.[3] Growing along watercourses, floodplains and grasslands, the Palm and Cycad Societies of Australia write about the Corypha utan palms occurring in Cape York:
Corypha utan .. is undoubtedly one of the most imposing species in the Australian palm flora (with its massive pachycaul trunks and hapaxanthic flowering and fruiting extravaganza.[4]
The starch contained inside the trunk is edible raw or cooked, as is the tip-top. The flowering stalks can be beaten to produce liquid. The nut kernels are also edible.[5]
Locally known as buriorbuli in the Philippines, the leaves of Corypha utan are widely used in weaving fans, baskets, and mats.[7][8] Additionally, in Isla Verde, Batangas where this palm tree grows abundantly, Corypha utan sap is extracted, cooked and made into the sweet delicacy called "Pakaskas".[9][10]
^Barnes, R. H. (1996). "Lamakera, Solor. Ethnographic Notes on a Muslim Whaling Village of Eastern Indonesia". Anthropos. 91 (1/3): 75–88. JSTOR40465273.
