Hyphaene thebaica

Hyphaene thebaica, the doum or gingerbread palm, is the branching fan palm of the Sahel, the Nile valley and the Red Sea lands. Its grey trunk splits again and again into pairs of arms, each crowned by stiff, bluish fans, so that old trees carry up to sixteen heads.

Its glossy orange-brown fruits have a dry, sweet pulp that tastes of gingerbread. The ancient Egyptians revered it and placed its fruits in tombs.

At a glance

• Native range: from Senegal and Sierra Leone across the Sahel to Egypt, Ethiopia, Somalia and south-western Arabia
• Mature size: 3–15 m, occasionally to 20 m
• Growth rate: slow; years pass before a trunk forms
• Light: full sun and great heat
• Water: drought tolerant once established but needs access to deep water; dislikes standing water
• Cold hardiness: light frost to about −1.7 °C; cold, wet weather is dangerous
• Indoors / outdoors: an outdoor palm for hot, dry climates

Care

Give it the hottest, sunniest spot available in light, well-drained soil with a pH of about 6.5–7.5. It tolerates drought, moderate salinity and even salt-encrusted ground, but not waterlogging or cold rain.

Why Palmpedia: Grown in our greenhouse in Almeirim, Portugal, and supplied in 15 L to 35 L pots.