Branching Palm - Hyphaene dichotoma

                                               These are found in Vallipuram area in Vadamarachchy. located in front of the Vallipuram Aalvar Temple. Palm trees are characterized by having un-branched stems. Among the species of Palm family (Arecaceae), the Hyphaene genus has branched stems. This is very abnormal and a very rare occurrence in Palm family. Doum palm or Gingerbread tree, botanically known as Hyphaene dichotoma is a close relative of Palmyra palm. It is exotic plant, is a type of palm tree with edible oval fruit that are red-orange and taste like gingerbread. It is believed that Gingerbread trees were brought into Sri Lanka by the Portuguese during the colonial period. The doum palm is a dioecious palm and grows up to 17 m (56 ft) high. The trunk, which can have a girth of up to 90 cm (35 in), branches dichotomously and has tufts of large leaves at the ends of the branches. It is a native to the Arabian Peninsula and also to the northern half and western part of Africa where it is widely distributed and tends to grow in places where groundwater is present.