Raffia palms are members of the genus Raphia. The Malagasy name rafia is derived from fia "to squeeze juice". The genus contains about twenty species of palms native to tropical regions of Africa, and especially Madagascar, with one species (R. taedigera) also occurring in Central and South America. R. taedigera is the source of raffia fibers, which are the veins of the leaves, and this species produces a fruit called "brazilia pods", "uxi nuts" or "uxi pods".
They grow up to 16 metres (52 ft) tall and are remarkable for their compound pinnate leaves, the longest in the plant kingdom; leaves of R. regalis up to 25 metres (82 ft) long and 3 metres (9.8 ft) wide are known. The plants are monocarpic, meaning that they flower once and then die after the seeds are mature. Some species have individual stems which die after fruiting, but have a root system which remains alive and sends up new stems which fruit. The Raphia palms are remarkable in being one of just two genera of flowering plants having the very rare phyllotaxy of 1/4 (the other is Laccosperma). Perhaps even more remarkable is the "King Raphia" (R. vinifera var. nigerica) which is the only known palm with pairs of opposite fronds.
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