354 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES. 



The trunk of the palm, thouc^h it is in some parts 

 remarkably hard and durable, can hardly be considered 

 as timber. It consists of longitudinal fibres, which 

 are not so much interwoven as those of the branching 

 trees ; but have their interstices filled with a sort of 

 pith, or medullary substance, when young, that is 

 near the top, where the young leaves are in the pro- 

 gress of formation. This medullary substance is a 

 sort of sap ; but in the older portions of the tree it 

 consolidates, though it always remains granular, and, 

 as is the case with the pith of trees, is as easily di- 

 vided across as longitudinally. Generally speaking, 

 the medullary part of the palm is much lighter in the 

 colour than the fibrous part ; and thus well consoli- 

 dated palm trunks have a beautifiiUy mottled appear- 

 ance when cut across. The wood of the areca palm, 

 or cabbage palm of South America, is sometimes 

 used in ornamental furniture, under the name of cab- 

 bage wood ; but it does not answer very well, as the 

 ends of the fibres are too hard, and the medullary 

 matter too soft, for holding glue. For the same 

 reason, the surface is very difficult to polish, and 

 cannot be preserved without varnish. 



The flowers come out in large bunches, or spikes, 

 from between the leaves ; they are at first inclosed 

 in a spatha, or sheath, which opens to let them 

 expand, and then shrivels and withers. 



The date-palm is a dioecious tree, having the male 

 flowers in one plant, and the female, or fruiting ones, 

 in another. The male flowers are considerably larger 

 than the female ; and the latter, instead of stamens, 

 have, in the centres of them, the rudiments of the 

 dates, about the size of small peas. 



The two distinct sexes of the date-tree appear to 

 have been known from the remotest antiquity, as 

 they are noticed by all the ancients who describe the 

 tree. It is not a little remarkable, that there is a 



