Notwithstanding its uses nutritionally, medicinally and artisanally, the Palmyra tree has an incredible importance on an ecological level. Where it grows, they say cows will sleep. It is so because the roots of the Palmyra tree venture very deep into the ground and bring moisture up closer to the surface thereby maintaining a certain coolness on the earth’s surface just around the tree.

Farms around Tamil Nadu have been flanked by Palmyra trees since time immemorial. They acted as a boundary, as a windbreak on the plains and as a way to uphold the water table. And provided invaluable uses in countless other ways! On the banks of water bodies they are effective in preventing soil erosion. Aside from their value to humans, they serve as a secure natural shelter for birds, bats and other small wild animals. And a Palmyra tree can outlive 100 years!

In this season, as the fruits are falling all over from the Palmyra trees and lying on the ground rotting, why not go around collecting them so you can plant them on the border around the place where you live. This is an act of love for future generations.

In the last few decades, Palmyra trees, being considered by modern agriculture to be a nuisance, have been extensively cut down and sold as firewood to brick kilns. This has occurred as a consequence of the precedence of valuing land for its monetary worth, over valuing it as the basis for a life close to nature – a life that can gracefully receive the love that Mother Nature herself abundantly showers upon us.

It can hardly be overstated then, that planting a palm seed is of enormous value – just make a small hole twice the size of the fruit, place it in, and cover it, that’s it. And it will grow, leave the rest to Mother Nature’s benevolence – you did your part.