138 



PALMACE^. 



[Endogens. 



smell of fish- oil, it has rather an agreeable odour ; and it is readily consumed in 

 open glass vessels, with floating or standing wicks, whatever the temperature of the 

 air may be. 



The natural secretion of the fruit of Calamus Draco constitutes the best D'jvirnang 

 or Dragon's Blood, a dark coloui'ed inodorous insipid resin ; a second and rather 

 inferior kind is produced from the frviit from which the natural secretion has been 

 removed by heat and bruismg ; the third and most inferior kind appears to be the 

 refuse of the last process. It is doubtful whether this article is procured from the 

 plant by incisions, as has been supposed. — Griffith. 



The roots of the American Palmetto have been foimd to contain a large quantity of 

 tannui. 



There seems no end to the economical purposes to which the products of Palms are 

 apphed. Theu' huge and hard-skinned leaves are universally employed as thatch. 

 All the hard-wooded sorts furnish excellent timber. The BraziUan Indians, especially 

 the Pm-is, Patachos, and Botocudos, manufactiu'e their best bows from the wood of a 

 species of Cocoa-nut, called the Airi, or Brejeuba. Palmyra wood is produced by 

 Borassus flabelhformis. Among those best known in Europe are the Rattans, belonging 

 to various kinds of Cane, and so much valued for their flexibiUty on the one hand, and 

 flinty hardness on the other. Palm walking-sticks (under the name of Penang lawyers), 

 are also very extensively used in England. Mention has already been made of the 

 valuable horse-hair-like bristles obtained from Saguerus saccharifer. Fibrous matter is 

 also prociu'ed from Sagus filaris, a Malay plant, whose bristles are dried and used for 

 sewing linen garments. Ropes and strings are prepared m Affghanistan from the 

 Maizm'rye Palm, a species of Chamterops, according to Mr. Griffith. 



Thousands of boys and girls are employed in Java in weaving into baskets and bags 

 the young leaves of the Gebang Palm (Cor^'pha Gebanga, BL), one of the most useful of 

 all the species of India ; its pith fui'nishes a sort of Sago ; its leaves are used for thatch 

 and broad-brimmed hats ; fishing-nets and linen shu'ts are woven from its fibres ; ropes 

 from its twisted leaf-stalks ; the root is both emolhent and sUghtly astrmgent : shced, it 

 is used m slight diarrhoeas, and Waitz even says that it is a most valuable remedy for 

 the periodical diarrhoeas which, in the East Indies, attack Europeans out of health. — 

 Rumpliia, 2. 60. 



Finally, the hard albumen of some species is turned to use in manufactures. The 

 Hypheene furnishes materials for rosaries; and Date kernels have been used by the turner ; 

 but the most celebrated is the Vegetable Ivory. This is the produce of a tree found on 

 the banks of the river Magdalena, resembling Palms m its leaves, which equal those of 

 the Cocoa-nut in dimensions, in its torulose scaly stem, and, finally, in the remarkable 

 structure and weight of its fruit. — Humh. The Spanish Botanists Ruiz and Pavon also 

 met with it in the groves of Peru in the hotter parts of the Andes, and named it Phyte- 

 lephas macrocarpa. The natives of Columbia call it Tagua, or Cabeza de Negro (Negro's 

 head), m allusion, we presume, to the figure of the nut. Almost all we know about it 

 is contained in the following memorandum, pubhshed by the Spanish writers above men- 

 tioned. " The Indians cover then* cottages with the leaves of this most beautiful Palm. 

 The fruit at first contains a clear insipid fluid, by which travellers allay their thirst ; 

 afterwards this same liquor becomes milky and sweet, and it changes its taste by degrees 

 as it acquires soHdity, till at last it is almost as hard as ivory. The Uquor contained m 

 the young fruits becomes acid if they are cut from the tree and kept some time. From 

 the kernels the Indians fashion the knobs of walkmg-sticks, the reels of spindles, and 

 little toys, which are whiter than ivory, and as hard, if they are not put under water — 

 and if they are, they become white and hard agam when dried. Bears devour the yoimg 

 fruit with avidity." The toys prepared from it by the tm-ner are well known in the 

 London shops, and are much admired for their beautiful texture. 



For further details concerning the useful quaUties of this interesting race, see Dr. 

 Royle's Work m the place above quoted. 



I. Areceae. 



Chamsedorea, Willd. 



Numiezharia, Ruiz 

 Pav. 



Nunnezia, Willd. 

 Hyospathe, Mart. 

 Morenia, Ruiz et Pav. 

 Kunthia, H. et B. 

 Hyophorbe, Gcertn. 



Suhlimia, Commers. 

 Leopoldinia, Mart. 



Euterpe, Mart. 

 ffinocarpus, Mart. 

 Oreodoxa, Willd. 

 Pinanga, Rumph. 

 Kentia, Blume. 

 Oncosperma, Blume. 

 Areca, Linn. 



Euterpe, Gsertn. 

 Dypsis, Noronh. 



Noroyiha, Thours. 

 Seaforthia, R Br. 



GENERA. 



Orania, Zippel. 



Arausiaca, Bl. 

 Ptychosperma, Lab. 



Drymopalceus, Zipp. 

 Harina, Hamilt. 



Orania, Bl. 



Wallichia, Roxb. 



Wrightia, Roxb. 

 Iriartea, Ruiz et Pav. 



Cerojcylon, H. et B. 

 C.'yrtostachys, Bl. 



CaJyptrocalyx, Bl. 

 Iguanura, Bl. 

 Saguerus, Rumph. 



Arenga, Lab. 



Gomutus, Rumph. 

 Caryota, Linn. 



II. Calameae. — (Lepido- 

 caryeae, Martins; Cala- 

 mine, Griffith.) 

 * Pinnated. 



Calamus, Linn. 



