ENDEMIC PALMS OF HAWAII 323 



Bottle Palm, now placed with the true Pritchardias, is swollen 

 or bottle-shaped in its lower portion, above this it is slender; 

 the whole trunk rises to 30 to 40 feet. 



It is a common experience to find the trunks mutilated by deep 

 gashes or machete scars. These are footholds cut by Hawaiians 

 and others who have climbed the trees to gather the leaves or 

 fruits. 



The trunk ma}- be naked throughout, or clothed toward the 

 summit with dead leaves and petiole-bases, or clad throughout 

 with old petiole-bases. These latter often remain clinging to 

 the trunk for many years and form a large mass of dead material, 

 usually extending for 2 to 4 feet down below the living crown, 

 and projecting for 6 to 8 inches on all sides of the trunk. This 

 coarse matting is easily stripped off; such action arouses various 

 lepidoptera and other small insects that habitually conceal 

 themselves in these situations. 



The bark is grayish or reddish brown. The fissures are 

 shallow, sinuous, not close together, and not confluent. The 

 annular petiole-scars are close-set, not prominent, and soon 

 become indistinct. The bark is relatively thin — about 0.1 to 

 0.3 inch thick — and very soft and corky. On its dry or leeward 

 side the trunk is usually chalky white, and thus conspicuous for 

 a considerable distance. The windward side is stained and 

 weather beaten. The wood is soft and fibrous. Its color is 

 white, tinged with reddish; it darkens rapidly upon exposure. 

 No economic uses are known for the trunk or wood. 



Leaves: The leaves are tenninal. The terminal bud is 

 central and erect, elongate, conical, acuminate, 20 to 35 inches 

 tall, and composed of 6 to 8 young leaves. These are com- 

 pactly folded upon their own plaitings; the inner ones are 

 creamy-yellow and tender. The writer has often found the 

 apical parts of the bud leaves more or less seriously attacked by 

 aphids and fungi. Unlike the natives in certain other countries, 

 the Hawaiians did not use the succulent terminal bud for food. 



There are generally 20 to 35 fully mature living leaves on a 

 mature tree. The fully-expanded leaves rattle in the breeze as 

 though they were made of thin sheet metal, they are so cori- 



