192 THE PRINCIPAL SPECIES OF WOOD. 



Cabbage Palmetto. Sabal palmetto Walt. 



Nomenclature. (Sud worth.) 



Cabbage Palmetto, Palmetto Cabbage Tree (Miss., Fla.). 

 (N. C, S. C.). Tree Palmetto (La.). 



Locality. 



Southern Atlantic and Gulf coast, United States (intermittently). 

 Rare at northern limit. Best on Florida southwest coast. 



Features of Tree. 



Medium size, thirty to forty feet in height, one to two and one- 

 half feet in diameter. 

 Color, Appearance, or Grain of Wood. 



Light-brown tint. Characteristic coarse fibre arrangement. As 

 a whole, wood is soft and light, but fibro-vascular bundles 

 are hard to work. 

 Structural Qualities of Wood. 



Light, soft, difficult to work; durable in marine work ; repels 



teredo. 

 Representative Uses of Wood. 



Piles, wharf-work, etc. Used locally for small marine works. 

 Weight of Seasoned Wood in Pounds per Cubic Foot. 



27. 

 Modulus of Elasticity. 



Modulus of Rupture. 

 Remarks. 

 Scrubbing-brush "bristles" are made in considerable quantities 



in Florida from the sheath of young leaves. The inner part 



of young plant is edible. 



The following Palmettoes also grow in the United States. (Sudworth) 

 Silktop Palmetto, Silver Thatch (Thrinax parvi flora). Silvertop Palmetto, 

 Prickly Thatch, Brittle Thatch (Thrinax microcarpa), Mexican Palmetto (Sabal 

 mexicana). The first two grow in Florida and the Bahamas. The last in South- 

 western Texas and old Mexico. 



Date Palm (Ptuenix dactylifera). Conditions seldom favor the development 

 of commercial dates save in Arizona, where the industry is likely to prove a per- 

 manent one. Other species of Pluznix, cultivated for decorative purposes and 

 known as date palms, are distinct. "Phoenix" refers to Phoenicia. "Dactylus" 

 and "dates" are derived from the Hebrew "dachel." * The date plam affords 

 fruit, syrup and vinegar. The wood is used to make beds, tables, chairs, cradles 

 and boats. "The leaves are formed into fans, baskets, cord, and paper. The 

 light, porous, but durable, trunk is used in carpentry. The fibres on the trunk 

 are made into rope." "Arabia," S. M. Zweimar. 



* Swingle (Year Book, Dept. Agriculture, 1900, pp. 453, 490), Tourney (Ariz. 

 Experiment Station Bulletin No. 29). 



