20C2 



A TEXTBOOK OF THEORETICAL BOTANY 



Palm. It has been cultivated in Ceylon and India under the name of the 

 Palmyra Palm. It has innumerable uses. Its wood resists salt water, the 

 leaves are used for thatching and for writing material. The leaf base 

 provides a fibre for making brushes. The split leaf is woven into mats. 

 The fruits are eaten roasted, while from the inflorescence a juice can be 

 tapped which is fermented into toddy. This toddy can be converted into 

 sugar (jaggery), alcohol or vinegar. The young seedlings can be eaten or if 

 dried and ground yield a good flour. Lodoicea contains a single species 

 L. sechellarum (Fig. 1991) which is the Coco de Mer, or double coconut of 

 the Sevchelles. The fruit is one of the largest known, averaging about 



Fig. 1 991. — Lodoicea sechellarum. Coco de Mer or Double Coconut. 

 The fruits are formed on stout offshoots of the main trunk. 



40 lbs. weight and takes ten years to ripen. It is a bilobed nut with a thick 

 fibrous husk, and was found floating in the Indian Ocean long before 

 the tree was discovered, which accounts for its colloquial name. 



III. Lepidocaryoideae 



Spadix branched. Flowers in cincinni or two-ranked spikes with bracts 

 and bracteoles round them. Gynoecium of three carpels, united into a 

 trilocular ovary covered with scales. Fruit one-seeded. Leaves pinnate or 

 palmate, reduplicate. 



I. Maiiritieae. Leaves always fan-shaped and reduplicate. Only genus 

 Maiiritia. It contains nine species which are found in America 

 and the West Indies. 



They are the South American Fan Palms and are characterized by their 



