THE PALM FAMILY 



145 



The spadices of both, male and female trees, are cut, and the 

 sap which flows out of the wound is drunk as toddy, or made 

 into jaggery. The toddy intended for jaggery is drawn in lime- 

 coated pots, then boiled, and thus converted into jaggery. 



The trunk of the tree is used for rafters. The fruit can be 

 eaten. The leaves are used for many purposes, like those of the 

 Cocoanut Palm. 



Other Palms are the majestic Talipot or Fan Palm {Coryplia 

 imibracuUfera ; Kan. Sri tali), which forms a huge, terminal in- 

 florescence once in its life, and dies after the seeds ripen; the 

 Areca Palm {Areca catechu; Kan. Adike; San. Tambiilam), the 

 most slender and elegant of Indian Palms, "raising its graceful 

 stem and feathery crown like an arrow shot down from heaven" 

 {Hooker). The nut is eaten with betel leaves. 



From the stem of the Malabar Sago Palm {Caryota urens; 

 Kan. Baini; Hin. Ind) a sago is obtained. This is the starch 

 stored up in the soft cells of the 

 stem, preparatory to the produc- 

 tion of flowers and seeds before 

 the tree dies. It is also a very _) 

 lofty and noble Palm, the great 

 hanging clusters of flowers and 

 fruits being very noticeable, and 

 resembling a huge horse-tail. 

 The leaf-stalk makes a fair fish- 

 ing rod, the fibre of the spathe 

 a good line. Toddy is also ex- 

 tracted from the peduncle of 

 the infiorescence, in the same 

 way as from the Cocoanut and 

 Palmyra. 



What the Cocoanut Palm is 

 to India, the Date Palm {FhcPMix 

 dactylifera; Kan. Karjura) is to 

 Arabia. Its fruits, that ripen 

 in August, come to us at Christ- 

 mas time. 



Fig. 129.- The Rattan Cane Palm 

 {Calamus votang). 



10 



