The species are : Caryota mitis, Caryota blancoi, and Caryota 

 urens. The latter is a well-known palm of India and Ceylon* 

 From its flower spikes a large quantity of juice called toddy or 

 palm wine is obtained, and this when boiled yields palm 

 sugar. A sago is prepared from the pithy part of the trunk. 

 The fibre obtained from the leaf-stalks, called Kittul fibre, 

 possesses great strength. Caryota palms on reaching 

 maturity throw out a spike of flowers from the top of the tree, 

 and after this has done flowering another comes out below it, 

 and so on from each axil, until the palm is exhausted 

 and dies. 



On the lawn to the left, lying between the Caryota avenue 

 and the circle, are two tall specimens of the Palmyra palm, 

 Borassiis flabelliformis, widely distributed throughout the 

 tropical parts of Asia. The parts of this plant are applied to 

 numerous uses by the Hindoos. A Tamil poem enumerates 

 801 uses, and does not exhaust the list. The sap or toddy 

 obtained by tapping the flower spikes yields palm sugar. 

 The young seedlings are cultivated in India and consumed as 

 an article of food. Close by is Phytdcphas macrocarpa, the 

 Ivory palm which produces the vegetable ivory of commerce. 

 Its native habitat is the banks of rivers in Central America. 

 The fruits are borne in large globular heads. The seeds when 

 ripe are very hard and are used for making knobs, coat 

 buttons, chess-men, toys, etc. Some distance from the road 

 are two clumps of bamboos : the graceful Thyrsostachys 

 siamensis, and the Spiny Bamboo, Bambusa spinosa. 



Immediately behind the fountain is a small specimen of 

 the remarkable Bussu palm, Manicaria saccifera, native to 

 parts of Central and South America, particularly the latter 

 region where it inhabits the tidal swamps of the lower Amazon 

 River. The leaves which are used by the natives for thatching 

 purposes, and frequently measure as much as 30 feet in length, 

 and 4 to 5 feet in width, differ from those of most other 

 palms in that they remain entire : occasionally however, when 

 old, they split irregularly. Close to this palm is a grass-like 

 plant known as the Giant reed, Arundo Donax, native to the 

 Mediterranean region, and largely cultivated in the Southern 

 States of America and elsewhere as an ornamental plant. 



