Palmacee.} THE HIMALAYAN MOUNTAINS. 397 
smal — meee the Sopa, and fm, as we have seen, extend 
Cc seta ve Penile ee . a genus which only siisansil perfection in northern 
tee ae Wp int — Thus, P. on oe the true Date-tree, 
northern parts of fee “i poi 6 _— — pinta 
saaciaee oo 5 * ence it has been introduced into the south of Spain, and is 
: ghiera, in the south of France, on account of its leaves, which are 
acta two periods of the year, in Spring for Palm Sunday, and in September for the 
Jewish Passover. It is common in Syria, and is the Palm-tree of Scripture; it was 
probably the Palm earliest known to the Greeks and Romans, and was emblematic of 
daria) as in the coin with the inscription of ‘‘ Judea capta.” It is found in oases 
in the desert, as around Palmyra, supposed to have been so named, from Palma ; 
that indeed seems only the oriental name translated, which is Tadmar, supposed to be a 
corruption of Tamar (from Zamr, a date), a city built in the desert by Solomon. From 
this it extends along the Euphrates to Bagdad and Bussora, and along the coasts of the 
Persian Gulf even to India, though it does not ripen its fruit well within the boundaries 
of the latter. By Mr. Gibson it is mentioned as being common from Chickly to Taptee, in 
Guzerat; and it was in a flourishing state in the Botanic Garden at Saharunpore. Other 
species are, however, indigenous to, and flourish in, almost every part of India, as P. 
(Elate, Lin.) sylvestris, khujoor of the natives, which may be seen in almost every part of 
India. P. farinifera is a dwarf species found in the south in sandy situations, at little 
distances from the sea, as near Coringa; while P. paludosa grows only in the Sunder- 
bunds of the Ganges. These are, however, very moderate in stature, as is P. acaulis, 
another dwarf species, found in Behar, and which is very closely allied to, if, indeed, 
it be at all distinct from P. humilis, nob., which I found in the Kheree Pass, in 30° of 
N. latitude, and at an elevation of 2,000 feet, but where the climate is sufficiently 
modified by local causes, so as to allow of the growth of other tropic-like plants, but 
also with representatives of European genera, as a pine, Pinus longifolia, which is here 
found alongside of the Palm. — 
Chamerops humilis, often called Palmetto, as is sometimes the N. American Sabai, is 
common in Spain and Italy, as well as in the N.of Africa. Chamerops Martiana is a 
new Himalayan species of this genus, of a slender and elegant appearance, and forty 
or fifty feet high, which Dr. Wallich discovered in considerable abundance in Nepal, and 
thought it at first to be the Japanese C. excelsa, of Thunberg. 
It has been said by Humboldt and Martius, that wine, oil, wax, flour, sugar, salt, 
thread, utensils, weapons, and habitations, are afforded by the Palms; they are there- 
fore among the most useful and important of the plants in intertropical parts of the 
world. The young and tender leaves of several of the Palms, with their spathes, mild in 
have been used as articles of diet. Thus, Oreodora (Areca, 
has the green top of its trunk eaten both raw 
oleracea and edulis are likewise 
ball 
taste and nutrient in nature, 
Jacq.) oleracea, or esculent Cabbage-tree, 
and in a cooked state in the West Indies; so Euterpe 
Old World, the top of Caryota urens, and the unexpanded terminal 
probably, do those of 
many 
eaten in Brazil; in the 
bud of the Cocoa-nut tree form a delicate article of food, so also, 
