In my previous post, my friend Personal Demon asked the following question, when I referred to the ancient palm as ‘Lazarus’:

or it could be a MUMMY palm tree… or a ZOMBIE palm tree…

Why WHY don’t scientists ever think about the consequences of their actions?

As my fiancée pointed out, it can’t be a zombie palm tree because there is already a ‘zombie palm’, which by pure serendipity we stumbled across while wandering Daniel Stowe Gardens yesterday. Why is it a ‘zombie palm’? A brief description after the fold…

First, a picture of the plant, taken by moi:

It doesn’t look particularly zombie-like, does it? My curiosity was piqued: why is it called the ‘zombie palm’?

It turns out that nobody is completely sure. Zombia antillarum is native to Haiti and the Dominican Republic, the home of ‘zombie’ culture. None of the conventional sources (wikipedia and others) gives any indication of where the name comes from, but I managed to find an article in the journal Economic Botany which investigated the origins. (F.B. Taylor and J.C. Timyan, Economic Botany 58 (2), (2004), 179-183)

Quoting from that article,

Beccari (14) described this species as Oothrinax anomala, the genus name referring to the oval form of the fruits and anomala to the unique features of the species. L. H. Bailey (1) subsequently gave the name Zombia antillarum in reference to the local vernacular name, stating that “it would be preferable if this endemic palm could bear a Latin name indicative of its nativity rather than an exotic binomial of no relation with its country and the people.”

But why do the locals call it the zombie palm? That’s where things get vague. Quoting again,

We found that there is indeed a connection between the vernacular name and Haitian culture. According to an ethnographic source, the people of Gros-Morne, Haiti, believe that the yellowish-brown oil produced by the seeds is a “sense-activator” used to stimulate all five senses. They believe this oil can be used to “awaken” a zombi back to life. Another use by Haitian locals, linked to the common name as well, is that the leaves are used as thatch material along rooftops of houses to keep zombies from being posted by their masters in order to spy on people. However, this information could not be verified, as different sources even denied having ever heard of the use of the seeds as a source of oil.

In other words, depending on the local one talks to, the palm is either used to ‘awaken’ zombies or to protect against zombie spies! The article also discusses the process of zombification and the less spectacular uses of the palm.

I haven’t yet found a ‘mummy palm’, but I’ll keep looking!