PALMACE. 711 
perigynous. Carpels 1—3 (figs. 1076 and 1077), generally united, 
but sometimes distinct ; ovary superior ; ovules solitary, or rarely 
2. Fruit (fig. 1078) nut-like, baccate, or drupaceous. Seeds with 
a minute embryo (fig. 1078, e), in a pit of the albumen, d; 
albumen fleshy or horny (jig. 1079), often ruminate ( fig. 763, p). 
Distribution and Nwinbers.—Most of the plants are tropical, 
but a few occur in temperate regions. Illustrative Genera :— 
Areca, Linn.; Chamezerops, Linn.; Attalea, Humb.; Cocos, Linn. 
There are above 600 species. 
Properties and Uses.—Of all orders of plants there is none, 
with the exception of that of the Grasses, so valuable to manas 
regards their dietetical and economic applications as that of the 
Palm Order. These plants supply him with sugar, starch, oil, 
wax, wine, resin, astringent matters, and also edible fruits and 
seeds.. Their terminal leaf-buds, when boiled, are eaten as a 
vegetable. Their leaves are applied in various ways, as for 
thatching, materials for writing upon, and in the manufacture 
of hats, matting, &c.; their wood is applied to many useful pur- 
poses ; the fibres of their petioles and fruits supply materials 
for cordage, cloth, and various other textile fabrics; and the 
hard albumen of their seeds is applicable in many ways. But 
in a medicinal point of view they are of very much less im- 
portance ; indeed, they do not supply any important article of 
the materia medica used in Europe, although in tropical 
countries they are of more value, and in frequent use as medi- 
cinal agents. 
Areca.—A. Catechu, the Betel Nut Palm.--The seeds are known under 
the name of Betel Nuts or Areca Nuts. In the South of India an extract 
is made from these nuts, which is said to constitute the commercial variety 
of Catechu known as Colombo or Ceylon Catechu, although it is doubtful 
whether any Catechu is prepared in Ceylon. It is the Betel Nut Catechu 
of Pereira. In its properties and uses this Catechu resembles that obtained 
from Acacia Catechu, and the official Catechu from Unearia Gambier. 
(See Uncaria.) Areca nuts are regarded as astringent, and valuable 
therefore as a remedy in diarrhoea. The powdered seeds or nuts have been 
long employed as an anthelmintic for dogs, and Areca was introduced into 
the last British Pharmacopeeia, on account of its supposed efficacy in pro- 
moting the expulsion of the tapeworm, and of the round worm in the human 
subject, but has now been omitted from possessing little or no value in such 
cases as a remedial agent. Charcoal prepared from the Areca nut is termed 
Areca-nut charcoal, and is sometimes used in this country asa tooth-powder ; 
but it does not appear to have any value over that of ordinary charcoal. The 
Betel Nut is one of the ingredients in the famed masticatory of the East 
called Betel. {See Piper.) ‘The dried expanded leaf-stalks have been used 
in India as splints.— A. o/eracea is knownas the West Indian Cabbage Palm, 
its young terminal bud when boiled being eaten as a vegetable. 
Arenga saccharifera or Suguerus saccharifer, the Areng or Gommuti 
Palm, supplies abundance of palm sugar in the Moluccas and Philippines. 
Palm sugar is usually obtained by boiling the juice which flows out from 
this and many other Palms upon wounding their spathes and surrounding 
parts ; it is commonly known in India by the name of Jaggery. The juice 
(toddy) of the Gommuti Palm, when fermented, produces an intoxicating 
