STARCH IX THE BANGALOW PALM. 143 



In our own continent of i\-u>stralia, the indigenous palms are not 

 otlierwise used than as ornamental auxiliaries in our gardens, or in 

 miniature to decorate the interior of our dwellings. Certainly in the 

 past the cabbage-tree hat was a valued possession of our one-time 

 beau monde, and later formed the headgear of the " fancy," but 

 beyond these uses I do not think they have had any notable place in 

 tlie commercial world. Tlie bangalow palm is considered generally to 

 be of little or no utility, though the split and dried timber has been 

 used as a covering for rural dwellings. Many years ago there was a 

 small trade in the seeds, wldch were sent to Europe to be grown in 

 the palm-houses of the various botanical gardens. How they got on, 

 or whether the trade in tliese seeds continued, I have not been able to 

 learn . 



Botanically the bangalow palm is known as the Archonto- 

 pho£7iix Gunninyhamiano, Wendl. and Diiide (Syn. Ptychosperma 

 Cuiiniiighamiana , Wendl., and Seaforthia elegans. Hook). " It is a 

 very tall and beautiful palm, with leaves attaining a length of several 

 feet, the segments being numerous and more or less toothed or iiTe- 

 gularly jagged at the end. The panicles are lateral, 1 to 1| feet long 

 and broad, branching into numerous spikes, very flexuose, the notches 

 scarcely excavated. Male perianth about two lines long, the bud 

 straight and obtuse, the outer segments about half as long. Stamens 

 number from under ten to above twenty, the filaments shorter than, 

 or, perhaps, ultimately as long as, the anthers. Female perianth 

 spreading under the fruit to a diameter of about 3 lines, the inner 

 segments not much longer than the outer. Fruit is ovoid-globose, 

 nearly half an inch in diameter. Albinnen deeply and irregularly 

 ruminate." 



It is a native of the coastal brushes of eastern New South Wales 

 and Queensland, extending from as far north as Cape York in Queens- 

 land to as far south as Milton (a town more than 100 miles south of 

 Sydney) in New South Wale^s. 



A specimen from the stem of one of these palms gi-own in a 

 gully at Eurimba Creek, New South Wales, came into my hands in 

 June last. It had been freshly cut from a rather large palm, but from 

 what position on the stem I omitted to discover, and have not since 

 been able to obtain the information. It was quite fresh, and appeared 

 somewhat like loose^grained timber until cut into with a knife, when it 

 was found to be very soft and pithy, though it haixiened on diying. 

 Packed in between the fibres a whitish substance was seen on the dried 

 portions, and this substance I found to be starch. I estimated the 

 quantity of starch at 4'8 per cent, on the sample as received; but as 

 the sample contained 70 per cent, of moisture, the dried stem would 

 yield 16 per cent, of starch. 



The starch granules were of various shapes and sizes. Some 

 appeared on first sight to be circular, and others ellipsoidal, but this 

 regular, rounded appearance was due, I think, to the apex of certain 

 truncated cells being turned towai'ds the point of vision. A great 

 abundance of ti-uncated cells of the elongated kettle-drum and cone- 

 shaped pattern were present, iiell-shaped cells, symmetrically formed, 

 were also seen, together with polygonal forms closely resembling those 



