Cook: Date Palm Allies in America 



121 



A MEXICAN RELATIVE OF THE DATE PALM 



The belief that the date palm was an American species a million or more years ago is 

 based on finding fossil seeds in Texas. This photograph of part of the inflore- 

 scence of a Mexican palm, Brahea diilcis, shows that some of the present American 

 palms have seeds very much like those of a date, including the groove along one 

 side, which is clearly shown in the cross sections of three seeds in the upper j^art 

 of this plate. It is possible, therefore, that the seeds found in Texas were not 

 those of the date palm, but of some ancestor of one of the present American 

 genera like Brahea or Inodes. Photograph by C. B. Doyle, natural size. (Fig. 

 10.) 



less used by the native Mexicans, and 

 recognized by botanists in such names 

 as Brahea dulcis and Erythea edulis. 

 The fruits of Inodes texana or a closely 

 allied species are eaten like dates and 

 are an article of trade in the native 

 markets in the Tampico district. The 

 Indians of the Colorado desert in 



southern California think of the date 

 palms that are now being planted by 

 the white settlers as a superior kind of 

 Washingtonia. 



In one important respect the fruits of 

 Inodes are the most like dates, for they 

 have only a thin membranous endocarp 

 while the other genera have a hardened 



