Corypha is a small genus of massive fan palms in the family Arecaceae (order Arecales), subfamily Coryphoideae. Commonly known as the talipot palm or gebang palm, these trees are native to tropical Asia and Australasia, with a range spanning India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, New Guinea, and the Cape York Peninsula of northeastern Australia.
All species are among the largest palms in the world, reaching heights of 20–40 metres and trunk diameters of up to 2.5 metres. The leaves are distinctively large fan-shaped fronds with long petioles, each measuring 2–5 metres across. The genus is slow-growing and may take many decades to produce a trunk.
One of Corypha's most remarkable biological traits is that all of its species are monocarpic: each individual palm flowers only once in its lifetime — producing one of the largest inflorescences of any plant — and then dies. This terminal flowering event can produce millions of flowers on a single branched structure several metres tall.
The genus contains just two widely recognised species: Corypha umbraculifera (talipot palm), native to India and Sri Lanka and famed for its use in traditional manuscripts (palm-leaf manuscripts), and Corypha utan (gebang or buri palm), distributed from India east to Australia. Both species have long histories of human use across their ranges, providing starch, fibre, thatch, and writing material.
Distribution
Corypha palms are native to tropical Asia and Australasia, occurring in India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, New Guinea, and the Cape York Peninsula of northeastern Queensland, Australia. They grow in tropical and subtropical lowland forests and disturbed areas across this range.
Taxonomy Notes
Corypha belongs to the subfamily Coryphoideae within Arecaceae, the palm family, and is placed in the order Arecales. The genus contains two accepted species per GBIF. All species share the distinctive monocarpic life history and large costapalmate leaves.
Cultural Uses
In the Philippines, the buri palm (Corypha utan) has been a cornerstone of traditional material culture. Its pith yields a starch called landang, used in desserts such as binignit. Three distinct fibre types are harvested from the plant: buri (from unopened leaves), raffia (from mature leaves), and buntal (from leaf petioles). Buntal fibre is woven into hats; the annual Buntal Hat Festival in Baliuag, Bulacan celebrates this craft every 6 May. Leaves are widely used for thatching across Southeast Asia. Corypha umbraculifera was historically the source of ola (palm-leaf) manuscripts across South and Southeast Asia.
