Did you know that Oil palms (Elaeis guineensis) can produce much more oil per unit of land area than most other oil-producing plants?

African Oil Palm - Elaeis guineensis

Elaeis guineensis is a species of palm commonly called oil palm but also sometimes African oil palm or macaw-fat. The oil palm is a multi-purpose tree of major importance in Africa, where it supplies food, medicines and many other products to the local population. Increasingly coming under cultivation, this species is rapidly becoming one of the world's most cultivated plants, being grown especially for its oil-bearing seeds and fruits. The tree is sometimes planted as a garden ornamental and along avenues.

It is the principal source of palm oil. Oil palms can produce much more oil per unit of land area than most other oil-producing plants (about nine times more than soy and 4.5 times more than rapeseed).

It is native to west and southwest Africa, specifically the area between Angola and The Gambia; the species name, guineensis, refers to the name for the area called Guinea, and not the modern country Guinea now bearing that name. The species is also now naturalised in Madagascar, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Indonesia, Central America, Cambodia, the West Indies, and several islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. The closely related American oil palm E. oleifera and a more distantly related palm, Attalea maripa, are also used to produce palm oil.

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