PALJLE. 531 



seems to owe its stimulating properties to the leaves of the Piper Betel. 

 Sago, and starchy matter allied to it, is obtained from many Palms. 

 It is contained in the cellular tissue of the stem, and is separated bv 

 bruising and elutriation. Fine sago is said to be procured from Sagus 

 Icevis or inermis, a native of Borneo and Sumatra; S. Eumphii or 

 farinifera, a native of Malacca ; and Saguerus Eumphii or saccharifer, 

 which is found in the eastern islands of the Indian Ocean. After the 

 starchy matter is washed out of the stems of these Palms, it is then 

 granulated so as to form sago. A single tree, it is said, will yield 500 

 to 600 pounds. The last-mentioned Palm also furnishes a large supply 

 of sugar. Sago, as well as sugar and a kind of Palm-wine, are pro- 

 cured from Cayota urens. The date sugar of Bengal is the produce 

 of Phoenix sylvestris. Ceroxylon or Iriartea Andicola yields wax, which 

 forms a coating over its trunk. Corypha cm/era, Carnahuba Palm, is 

 another wax palm. Its trunks are imported into Britain, and have 

 been used for veneering. It is much used in the northern parts of 

 Brazil, as at Aracaty, for thatch, hats, packsaddles, stakes, and palisades. 

 The wax is procured by shaking the leaves, which have a glaucous 

 bloom. Each leaf will yield fifty grains. A reddish resinous matter 

 is yielded by Calamus Draco. It is one of the substances called Dra- 

 gon's-blood, and is used for colouring. The whalebone-like bristles 

 which surround the base of the leaves of some species of Sagus and 

 Saguerus are used for brushes. The thinner stems of Palms, as of 

 Calamus Scipionum and Eotang, are used as canes under the name of 

 Rattans. Calamus Rudentum, the Cable Cane, a native of the East In- 

 dies, Cochin-China, and the Moluccas, grows sometimes to the length 

 of 500 feet. The fruit of Attalea funifera is known by the name of 

 Coquilla-nuts, and its hard pericarp is used for making umbrella- 

 handles, &c. It seems to supply a fibre used in manufacture under 

 the name of Piassaba. The hard albumen of Phytelephas macrocarpa 

 is used in the same way as ivory. Hence the plant is called the 

 Ivory Palm. The spatha of Manicaria saccifera comes off in the form 

 of a conical cap, and is used as a covering for the head in the West 

 Indies. Chamcerops humilis is the only European species of Palm. It 

 is able to stand the climate of this country with slight protection during 

 winter. A specimen in the Edinburgh Botanical Garden has lived 

 in the open air for upwards of thirty years. It is covered with mat- 

 ting during winter. The Doom-palm of Egypt (Hyphcene thebaica) 

 has a trunk which divides in a dichotomous manner. Its pericarp 

 is used as food, and has the taste of gingerbread. Acrocomia sclero- 

 carpa is the Macahuba-palm of Brazil ; Mauritia vinifera is the Buriti- 

 palm, the stem of which, when perforated, yields a reddish juice, 

 having the taste of sweet wine. Among the Palms which have 

 flowered in the Edinburgh Botanical Garden may be mentioned 

 various species of Ckamcedorea, Euterpe montana, Chammops humilis, 



