Reading 24.indd

Origin and Geographic Distribution Oil palm is native to Africa and it is assumed that speciation took place in that continent. However since all related species classifi ed in the subfamily Cocoideae have a South American origin (except perhaps the coconut, Cocos nucifera), the archetypal ancestor may have been indigenous to the Americas. Oil palm occurs in palm groves throughout the tropical rain-forest belt of West Africa between 10°N and S of the equator. However most of these groves show signs of human interference and probably owe their origin to man. Oil palm has played a major role in the village economy throughout West Africa for many centuries. Oil palm was introduced to South America with the slave trade. In fact the original description of Jacquin in 1763 was based on a specimen growing in Martinique. Semiwild groves are reported in coastal regions of Brazil around Belem. The oil palm was introduced into South-East Asia in 1848 through the Botanical Garden of Bogor, Indonesia. Second-generation and thirdgeneration descendants from the originally introduced material have been used as planting material for the fi rst oil-palm estates in Sumatra (since 1911) and Malaysia (since 1917) and have given rise to the Deli Dura breeding population.