Lala Palm Trees with Elephant Sketch

LALA PALMS and ELEPHANT (Hyphaene petersiana)

Lala Palms are found in Southern Africa including the Limpopo Province of South Africa. Hyphaene Petersian, the real palm or 'makalani palm' is a palm tree native to the low lying regions. These tall and extremely flexible palms may bend in the wind but they never break.

The symbolism of palm trees today, here are some of their most common traits: Upright growth - They grow tall, rising towards the heavens, they do not bow down. Abundant fruitfulness - they bear delicious and nutritious fruits, in fact a human can survive on palm fruits alone if need be.. Flexibility - Although they bend in the wind they do not break. This symbolises a great man's adaptability and his ability to persist is adversity. Elephants enjoy eating the new leaves and even the pulp of the stems. They have a particular fondness for the lala palm nuts and will go to considerable lengths to get at them. They do this by placing either their trunk or forehead against the single main stem of the palm tree, and then, gradually but forcefully, they start to rock the tree trunk causing it to shake violently. If the elephant is strong enough to do this well he is rewarded by a cascade of palm nuts falling from the tree. The elephants that are smaller often try to feed alongside the bigger elephants (if they are tolerated).

Elephants are important dispersal agents for the lala palm trees, as their digestive process removes only the fleshy outer part of the nuts' covering leaving the seed inside intact and ready to germinate.