MISCELLANEOUS NUTS. 269 



cows to increase the flow of milk, and at one time they 

 were employed for making paste for book binders. 

 They are scarcely edible, although containing consider- 

 able farinaceous matter, owing to the presence of a bitter 

 narcotic principle. Our native species, better known as 

 Buckeyes, with both smooth and prickly fruit, are 

 equally worthless as food. 



IVORY NUT. There are two species of palms pro- 

 ducing nuts hard enough to be employed as a substitute 

 for ivory, in the manufacture of small articles of domes- 

 tic use. But the one best known to commerce under 

 the name of ivory nut is the fruit of Pliytelephas macro- 

 carpa, native of New Granada and other parts of Central 

 America. This palm is a low-growing and almost de- 

 cumbent species, the stem seldom more than six to eight 

 inches in diameter ; but the leaves are of immense length, 

 or from fifteen to twenty feet, growing in bundles, or 

 clusters. The fruit consists of about forty nuts, en- 

 closed in a rough, spiny husk, of a globular form, pro- 

 duced on a short footstalk growing from the axis of the 

 leaves, the whole bunch weighing from twenty to thirty 

 pounds. They are two inches long, slightly triangular, 

 and covered with a thin, pulpy coat, which becomes 

 dry, papery and brittle when thoroughly dried, but 

 when in its green state it is sometimes utilized by the 

 natives for making a favorite beverage. The ripe nuts 

 are very solid, hard, and when polished resemble ivory. 

 Immense quantities of these nuts are imported into this 

 country, as well as Europe, and used as a substitute for 

 bone and ivory for making buttons, toys, and similar 

 small articles. 



JESUIT CHESTNUT. See Water chestnut. 



JICARA NUT. A local name, in some of the Cen- 

 tral American States for the Calabash (Crescentia Cujete). 

 A low-growing, rather rough tree, with simple leaves, 

 usually three growing together on a broad leafstalk. 



