EMERGENCY FOOD PLANTS AND POISONOUS PLANTS 14-15 



are intensely irritating to mucous membranes. Warning: 

 The large tuber should never he eaten except after prolonged 

 cooking. Long cooking breaks down the stinging crystals. If 

 possible, consult informed natives before using this as food. 

 Local names: Pungapung, teve, daiga, ddga, mdlree, suweg, 

 kembang-hdngah, kembang-bdnke, dtjung, ileus, bddur, bd- 

 dul, iles-iles, ileus, wdlur, dtjung, tjumpleng. 



Section VIE 



EDIBLE PALMS 



Paragraph 



Palms in general 15 



Specific palms 16 



■ 15. Palms in General. — a. There are a great many differ- 

 ent palms in Malaysia and in Polynesia. They vary greatly 

 in size and in habit. Some are very tall climbers, such as 

 the rattan palms, others low and almost shrubby, and still 

 others are gigantic in size. Some species grow along the 

 seashore within the influence of the salt water, such as the 

 nipa palm, some in open country, others in the secondary 

 forests and thickets, and still others in the high forest. 



b. Representatives of several genera (Corypha, Arenga, 

 Caryota, Metroxylon) store up great quantities of starch in 

 their trunks (par. 16). This starch is entirely used up by 

 the plant when it produces flowers and fruits, after which 

 the plant dies. This starch is a valuable food, that from 

 Metroxylon (par. 16a) being the commercial sago. The 

 starch from all of these palms is used for food. The palms 

 are felled, split, the softer inner parts of the trunk crushed, 

 and the starch washed out into troughs to settle. The 

 water is then drawn off and the wet mass which dries is 

 almost pure starch. The usual way of utilizing this starch 

 for food is to make it into cakes which are then baked or 

 roasted. The trunks of Caryota, Metroxylon, and Arenga 

 are not large and can be manipulated rather easily; that of 

 Corypha is gigantic, up to 3 feet in diameter, and the outside 

 is very hard. In attempting to extract starch from any of 

 these it is always best to enlist the services of natives. In 

 any case select the trunks of palms that have not flowered, 

 or, better, those that are just commencing to produce powers. 



17 



