“There are plants everywhere but palms have a special aura,” she says. “They have the ability to transform an environment in a way that no other plant can.” For some people in temperate parts of the world, the palm tree symbolises a tropical, relaxing holiday, but for those who live in places where they grow, such as Nigeria, they are a vital economic resource.
Products as diverse as oil, sponges, brooms, wine and raffia are all made from the trees. Palm products also form the raw material for other essential items, such as soap, salt, food and medicine. However, Nigeria’s reliance on crude oil means the palm has long been neglected, and many local species are in danger of becoming extinct. There are currently more than 2,000 species of palm around the world but, nowadays, only about three to five are common in Nigeria. “Half of the world’s palms originate in Madagascar, but Africans are not interested,” Mrs Muhammed says. “It’s the Westerners who go there in search of plants that are going into extinction, which they then take back to their own countries.” ‘Bewitched’ plants Nigeria was the world’s leading producer of palm oil during the period of British rule, while West Africa was the centre of the palm industry. In the 1870s, colonial administrators took palm seedlings from West Africa to Malaysia. Today, Malaysia is the global leader in oil palm plantations, production and export of palm oil products. Its output, combined with that of Indonesia, far exceeds the quantity of palm oil produced by the entire continent of Africa.Some members of the expedition had carried along personal items in black polythene bags; they tore pieces from these to use as moisture barriers on the targeted stem. The group had also brought along a photographer, who captured the entire procedure on film.
Six weeks later, Mrs Muhammed sent the photographer back to record the progress of the newly rooted plants, but he found they had all been felled by villagers. Seeing new plants rooting on the stems alongside the patches of black plastic, in terror they had convened a meeting with their village head during which it was concluded that the plants were bewitched. ‘Commercial potential’ Mrs Muhammed says many plants that are considered indigenous to other parts of the world can be found thriving in remote Nigerian forests, where no foreigner could ever have planted them. She bemoans Africans’ general lack of interest in such matters, which leads to other regions laying claim to native species.But Nigerians can learn more about their flora and fauna at the first site set up by Mrs Muhammed in the 1990s just outside Lagos city, the 30-hectre (74-acre) Murtala Muhammed Memorial Botanical Garden. It was named after her late husband, a popular former military head of state who was assassinated in 1976; she also has a one-hectare garden in the Lekki area of Lagos.
However, neither of these gardens is as fully stocked or dedicatedly tended as her Abuja garden, with its botanical and palm collection, known as a palmetum. As I accompanied Mrs Muhammed on a tour of her 20-hectare Sarius Palmetum and Botanic Garden, she pointed out some endangered plants:- Native to Nigeria, the pepper fruit, dennettia tripetala, which not only has a distinct aroma and strong spicy taste but has been found to contain chemicals that can combat glaucoma.
- The succulent sea grapes, or coccoloba uvifera, which once lined the beaches in Lagos.
- The juicy pitanga cherry, eugenia uniflora, which forms thick hedges that were a favourite choice for landscaping homes during my childhood.
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