Hyphaene thebaica(L.) Mart.

Doum Palmdoum palm

WFO wfo-0000216304 Accepted WFO 2026-06 4 photographs CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–d · 4 separate observations

Hyphaene thebaica, photographed by Dali
fig. a Dali, CC BY 4.0 / 2018-08-30 / obs. 55572928
Hyphaene thebaica, photographed by Guillermo Debandi
fig. b Guillermo Debandi, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 11537290
Hyphaene thebaica, photographed by Stefano Menchetti
fig. c Stefano Menchetti, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 14265328
Hyphaene thebaica, photographed by Fabien Anthelme
fig. d Fabien Anthelme, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 103001969

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 28 botanical countries

Regions where Hyphaene thebaica is native: Benin, Burkina, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan-South Sudan, Togo, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Sinai, Yemen BeninBurkinaCameroonCentral African RepublicChadCongoDjiboutiEgyptEritreaEthiopiaGambiaGhanaGuinea-BissauIvory CoastLibyaMaliMauritaniaNigerNigeriaSenegalSierra LeoneSomaliaSudan-South SudanTogoPalestineSaudi ArabiaSinaiYemen
Native distribution of Hyphaene thebaica, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Benin BEN AFRICA
Burkina BKN
Cameroon CMN
Central African Republic CAF
Chad CHA
Congo CON
Djibouti DJI
Egypt EGY
Eritrea ERI
Ethiopia ETH
Gambia GAM
Ghana GHA
Guinea-Bissau GNB
Ivory Coast IVO
Libya LBY
Mali MLI
Mauritania MTN
Niger NGR
Nigeria NGA
Senegal SEN
Sierra Leone SIE
Somalia SOM
Sudan-South Sudan SUD
Togo TOG
Palestine PAL ASIA-TEMPERATE
Saudi Arabia SAU
Sinai SIN
Yemen YEM

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Also published as 17 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Chamaeriphes crinita (Gaertn.) Kuntze
  • Chamaeriphes thebaica (L.) Kuntze
  • Corypha thebaica L.
  • Cucifera thebaica (L.) Delile
  • Douma thebaica (L.) Poir.
  • Hyphaene baikieana Furtado
  • Hyphaene crinita Gaertn.
  • Hyphaene cuciphera Pers.
  • Hyphaene dahomeensis Becc.
  • Hyphaene dankaliensis Becc.
  • Hyphaene nodularia Becc.
  • Hyphaene occidentalis Becc.
  • Hyphaene santoana Furtado
  • Hyphaene sinaitica Furtado
  • Hyphaene togoensis Dammer ex Becc.
  • Hyphaene tuleyana Furtado
  • Palma thebaica (L.) Jacq.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.