134 HORTUS JAMAICENSIS. cabbaw 



set at a small ani equal disTaTue from one auotber, the beauty of such a rrn;i}!ar U>(ty 

 groupe ot waving tuliage, .susceptible of motion by the most gentle gale of ivnul, is not 

 to be described. Tlie oil or bottom branches witlier and drop oft' while now ones shoot 

 ;it top, and there are generally from eight to ten brandies on the tree. 'I'iie middle rib in 

 each leaf is strong and prominent, su}>portni>i- it ou the untler side, the upper appear- 

 ing smooth and shining. The pithy part of the leaf being scraped off, the inside tex- 

 ture aj)pears to be so many longitudinal thread-like filaments. Tiiese spun in the san)e 

 manner as hemp or flax make good cordage, as well as fistiing nets. 



Upon removing the large green bark immediately under the branches, what is calleJ 

 the cabbage la discovered lying in many thin, snow-wiiite, brittle, flakes, in taste re- 

 sembling an iilmond, but sweeter. What us called the cabbage ilower, grovvs from that 

 part of tne tree where the ash-colours-d trunk joins llie green part. Its hrst appear- 

 ance is a green husky spatl)a, growing to above twenty inches lor.g and ab<:>ut frnir 

 broad; the inside being full of small white stringy filaments, full of ahern;ite protu- 

 berant knobs, the smallest of these resembling a tringe of course white thread knotted : 

 these are very numerous, and take their rise from smaller footstalks ; and tiiese foot- 

 stalks are likewise all united to ditTerent parts of the large parent stalk of all. As this. 

 husky sjjatha is opened while thus young, the farinaceous yellow seed in embryo, re- 

 sembling tine saw-dust, is very pleiitituiiy dis[)ersed among these stnugy iilaaients, 

 ";iich answer the use of itpices ia other nwjre regular-flower.-;. 



The cab!iage tree grow.s very pk'ntifuUy in many parts of Jamaica, and in a fav\2ra- 

 ble situation iln-ows out one of its circular rings on its stem m.jndily, or about thirteen 

 in one year, which makes its growth during that perio 1 full forty inches. This ob- 

 eervation was made on a young tree for three years running, in which time it grew full 

 ten feet, being then about thirty feet high from the ground to the branches. 



Dr. Smith, m his Introduction to Botanj', ol).serves, that in the palm trees of hot 

 countries the .sap is said to ^o\v from a wound at any time of the year. Tais is not the 

 case, at least in the cabbage tre, the coco- nut tree, or the prickly pole, the bark ofmll 

 wliich is thin and contains little or no sap, and the wood bard and dry, yielding no per- 

 ceptible moisture on being wounded. 



The cabbage trees are said to abound in the morasses towards Negril Bay, where 

 they grow to the height of one hundred ami fifty or one hundred and i.^ty feet. 



One would iiuagiiie that a tree of such vast height and slender, with its middle part 

 so hollow and pithy, would easily be blown down, which is rarely known to l)api)eji, 

 even in the greatest hurricanes. During these they have been observed violently agi- 

 tated to and fro, and their t.jps almost touching the ground, notwithstanding which 

 they recovered their erect posture without breaking, a plain proof how tough and 

 strong the uh.ileboue-like fibres of this tree are. 



Barhadoes cab'tage tree^ Jamaica cabbage tree, or Kwuntain cabbage, these trees, 

 $a3's Long, are, in fact, I believe, the same species ; and the difference between them 

 in respect to their figure seems to be owing entirely to the situation in which they 

 grow, whether in open ground, or in the midst of woods. In the former case nothing 

 hinders them from assuming that graceful form peculiar to their nature ; in die latter, 

 being inclosed on all sides with other lofty trees, they rise spin lling a^d often crooked ; 

 and seem to be confined in tiieir growth to a continual ascent, preserving an uniformity 

 -of bulk in the shaft from tlie root upwards, uutii they have overtopped the whole 

 *v'Ood. 



The 



