400 ILLUSTRATION OF THE BOTANY OF [Juncacee. 
the Date tree in Egypt; so, in India, baskets and boxes, mats and punkhas, are made 
with the leaf-stalks of the Khujoor, or Phenix sylvestris. The fibres of the capsular 
covering of the cocoa-nut it is well known are extensively employed for cordage ; 
so also are the black horse-hair like fibres, called ejoo, surrounding the petioles of the 
leaves of Arenga saccharifera, or the Gomuto, for cables and cordage. Canes and 
ratans, the stems of different species of Calamus, as of Calamus Rotang, rudentum, verus, 
and of others, form considerable articles of commerce. They are exported from the 
valleys along the foot of the Himalayas into the plains, though the species yielding 
them are not well known. 
An astringent principle is secreted by several of the Palms, as even in the Date tree, 
where the spathes are employed as astringents by the Arabs, also in Areca, or betel-nuts, 
the foful of the Arabs, so much chewed with the leaves of the Pan (Piper Betel), and a 
little lime ; the Malays chew sliced pieces of the nut of the Pinang, or Areca oleracea, 
with their betel. The nuts of Areca Dicksonii, triandra, and gracilis, are used in Silhet 
-as a substitute for those of A. Catechu, as are those of A. globulifera in the Moluccas. 
The resinous reddish-coloured substance, called dragon’s blood, dum-al-akhwain, we 
have seen, is produced in the isle of Socotra by Dracena Draco; but in Sumatra and 
the Malay islands, varieties of a similar substance are yielded by Calamus Draco. An 
exudation of a resinous nature, called mokul, is stated by Arabian authors to be 
produced by the tree called Doum ; but here the same name appears to be applied to 
very distinct substances. 
Useful and important as are these Palms, their introduction into new situations 
may not readily engage the attention of cultifators, as they are of such slow growth, 
but as this objection applies equally to all trees grown for timber, ‘it will be but 
of secondary consequence to those who look to the permanent improvement of their 
estates. For such purposes the Cocoa-nut and Areca-nut Palms are most important in 
the warm and moist parts of India, especially in the vicinity of the sea, but the 
other species of Palm, which have been mentioned, as yielding useful products, may be 
found equally suitable to different localities. The Arenga saccharifera, or the Gomuto 
of Rumphius, yielding palm-wine, sugar, sago, and fibres for cordage, is probably one 
of the most important, especially on wet and marshy grounds in southern latitudes ; 
Elais guineensis, or Oil Palm of the west coast of Africa, might no doubt be success- 
fully grown on some of the coasts of India; Phenix farinifera yielding farina fit for 
food, is suited to dry and sandy plains, while P. sylvestris, yielding sap and sago, 
succeeds well in almost every part of India. 
183. JUNCACER. 
Juncacea@, so named from Juncus, the Rush, have been considered as related both to 
petaloideous and glumaceous Monocotyledons ; Mr. Brown has remarked, that they are 
intermediate between Restiacee and Asphodelee. Endlicher confines the true Juncacee 
to Luzula, Juncus, Narthecium and Prionum ; considering the others, such as Flagellaria, 
Xerotes, Kingia, and others, as allied genera. * 
The 
