Buri Palm

Buri Palm

Dr Abe V Rotor

Buri Palm's final hour laden with thousands of nuts ready for dissemination that 

carry on the new generation.*, Atimonan, Quezon.  Photo by the author, circa 1988

You remained a youth for a century or so,

until the Pierian Spring ceased to flow

beneath your roots and in your veins.

You are a tower in the prime of your life,

but with the fate of the Ziggurat;

for Nature has bestowed 

upon you a crown of glory -

your gene are sown upon your death.

- AV Rotor, Light in the Woods 1995, Megabooks 

*Corypha microclada is a species of flowering plant in the family Arecaceae. It is found only in the Philippines, now threatened by loss of habitat. 

Buntal hat, Philippine national hat, is made from fibers

extracted from the trunk.

 

Corypha are large palms reaching 20–40 m high, with a trunk diameter of up to 1 to 2.5 m. All the species are monocarpic and die after flowering. The genus is relatively slow growing and can take many years to form a trunk, and die after reaching nearly a century.