{"id":5707,"date":"2026-02-14T20:37:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-14T12:37:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/heybali.info\/news\/?p=5707"},"modified":"2026-02-14T20:37:18","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T12:37:18","slug":"balis-vanishing-palm-scientists-race-to-save-a-species-sacred-to-hindu-ceremonies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/heybali.info\/news\/balis-vanishing-palm-scientists-race-to-save-a-species-sacred-to-hindu-ceremonies\/","title":{"rendered":"Bali’s Vanishing Palm: Scientists Race to Save a Species Sacred to Hindu Ceremonies"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The nyabah palm grows only in the misty highlands of Bedugul and Jatiluwih. Now, with its habitat under pressure, researchers have mapped its DNA\u2014creating a safeguard should it disappear from the wild.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

BEDUGUL, Bali \u2014<\/strong> In the cool, cloud-covered highlands above Bali, a palm species grows that exists nowhere else on earth. Its leaves are woven into Hindu offerings. Its young shoots are eaten. Its fruit substitutes for betel nut in traditional practices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the nyabah palm (Pinanga arinasae<\/em>) is losing ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Confined to scattered forest pockets in Bedugul and Jatiluwih, the plant is now considered endangered as habitat pressures steadily narrow the conditions it depends on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe leaves are used in Hindu ceremonies across Bali,\u201d said Arief Priyadi, a researcher at Indonesia\u2019s National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN)<\/a>. \u201cIt is not only a plant in the forest \u2014 it is part of daily cultural life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the palm disappears, he added, a botanical species would vanish alongside a material woven into ritual tradition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Genetic Safeguard<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

To prevent that outcome, researchers have turned to a tool unavailable to earlier generations: genome sequencing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scientists from BRIN\u2019s Center for Applied Botany Research have decoded the complete DNA of the nyabah palm, creating a permanent biological record of the species.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor this palm, genome sequencing is not merely academic,\u201d Priyadi said. \u201cIt is an effort to preserve knowledge of the species itself.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using fresh leaf samples collected in the highlands, researchers mapped its genetic structure and deposited the data in international scientific databases accessible worldwide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The result is a safeguard. Even if the plant were lost in the wild, its biological blueprint would remain available for future restoration or cultivation efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More Than a Forest Plant<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

To most visitors, the nyabah palm blends into Bali\u2019s dense mountain vegetation. To Balinese Hindus, however, it appears regularly in ritual offerings placed at homes and temples across the island.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Its value lies not in rarity but familiarity. It is a material quietly present in daily religious practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ni Putu Sri Asih, a researcher at BRIN\u2019s Center for Biosystematics and Evolution Research, said sequencing the chloroplast genome also helps scientists understand how the species evolved and how best to conserve it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe genetic data allows further study and supports long-term sustainability planning,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Narrow Ecological Window<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Unlike widespread tropical palms, Pinanga arinasae<\/em> evolved within a very specific environment: cool temperatures, volcanic soil, and persistent mountain moisture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A 2022 study in the journal Diversity<\/em> proposed classifying the species as Endangered under IUCN criteria, identifying elevation and forest floor conditions as critical to its survival.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As agriculture, settlement, and tourism infrastructure expand into upland areas, those conditions become increasingly fragmented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Can Still Be Saved<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Sequencing the genome does not protect the plant in the wild. Conservation still depends on safeguarding habitat and possibly cultivating the species outside its natural range.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What the research ensures is simpler but profound: disappearance would no longer mean total erasure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The nyabah palm still grows in Bali\u2019s highland mist today.
Whether future generations encounter it as a living tree or only as stored data will depend not on science alone, but on the landscapes that remain around it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

#heybalinews<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The nyabah palm grows only in the misty highlands of Bedugul and Jatiluwih. Now, with its habitat under pressure, researchers have mapped its DNA\u2014creating a safeguard should it disappear from the wild. BEDUGUL, Bali \u2014 In the cool, cloud-covered highlands above Bali, a palm species grows that exists nowhere else on earth. Its leaves are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":5708,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard"},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_bookmark_settings":[],"jnews_food_recipe":[],"enable_food_recipe":"","food_recipe_title":"","food_recipe_description":"","food_recipe_serve":"","food_recipe_time":"","food_recipe_prep":"","food_recipe_level":"","food_recipe_keywords":"","food_recipe_category":"","food_recipe_cuisine":"","food_recipe_yield":"","food_recipe_calories":"","enable_print_recipe":"","ingredient":[],"instruction":"","jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_review":[],"enable_review":"","type":"","name":"","summary":"","brand":"","sku":"","good":[],"bad":[],"score_override":"","override_value":"","rating":[],"price":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"jnews_post_split":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[52,51,68],"tags":[47,106,146,82,707,108,54,830],"class_list":["post-5707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bali-news","category-bali-update","category-sustainability","tag-bali","tag-bali-expat","tag-bali-life","tag-bali-tourism","tag-brin","tag-culture","tag-news","tag-the-nyabah-palm"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/heybali.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5707","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/heybali.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/heybali.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/heybali.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/heybali.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5707"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/heybali.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5707\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/heybali.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/heybali.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/heybali.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/heybali.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}