SAGO PALM (SKAS)

SAGO PALM (SKAS)

THE TREE OF EVERYTHING
GİFT OF THE TARAJAN GODS

LATIN NAME: CYAS REVOLUATA

HOME LAND: JAPAN AND PACIFIC ISLANDS

Although it is known as an elegant ornamental plant of interior spaces and gardens in the modern world, due to being the most aesthetically pleasing member of the palm family, we can say that it is a super tree, used in almost every aspect of life, from basic food to construction, in Southeast Asia, especially in Indonesia and the Pacific Islands.

The Sago Palm is the common figure that appears independently in all mythological stories of the local peoples from Indonesia to the Pacific Islands. As it is the main theme of the myths about nutrition, It is considered to be the main food of Southeast Asia before rice, which is the first staple food of Southeast Asia today.

The Sago Palm, which draws attention much more dominantly than the others in the Tarajan Mythology, which bears the same name with the Tarajan Tribes of Indonesia's Sulawesi Island, symbolizes many values in the Tarajan Culture, from fertility to fertility. As a tree created by the God of Tarajan, at the same time as man, for the benefits of man.

The Sago Palm, which has not lost its importance in Sulawesi Island, is still the world's largest tree grown for most versatile industrial purposes.

A kind of flour obtained from the trunk of the Sago Palm can be used both as starch and flour, and is found in almost all the recipes of Sulawesi Island. Its shells and stems are used for floor covering, furniture and tool making. If the body is left moist, a natural and delicious mushroom will grow on it. The remaining stem from the collection of mushrooms can be crushed and used as animal feed. Its branches and leaves are used in the countryside for wall-building, roofing, and local clothing.

In the book "Palm Sago , A Tropical Starch from Marginal Lands" published by the University of Hawaii in 1978, it is written that the Sago Palm is cultivated as a kind of emergency reserve for use in times such as famine and natural disasters, apart from normal use by the people of Papua New Guinea.

Its most unusual feature is the walnut-sized egg-like red sago seeds that emerge at the junction of the branches at the top of the trunk of female sago palms. These catch the pollen in the air and form one large flower. This flower can be planted by cutting into seedlings.