Keys; following up the Gulf coast to the Appalachicola River. 

 Leaves used for thatching houses, and in basketry. Stems 

 yield fibre for brushes. Trunks used for piles in wharfing, 

 canes, and other articles. Heart bud eaten boiled or as a 

 salad. Planted as an ornamental and street tree in the South. 



ROYAL PALM (Eoystonea regia, Cook). 80 to 100 feet. Tall 

 trunk, tapering both ways from the middle, abruptly enlarged 

 at base, and crowned with an abundant mass of foliage. Bark 

 smooth, pale gray, tinged with orange, marked with dark 

 blotches; greenish toward the top. Wood pale brown, spongy 

 inside the dark, hard-fibred rind. Used for piles of wharves. 

 Rind cut into canes. Leaves 10 to 12 feet long, feather-like, 

 the narrow divisions 2 to 3 feet long, dark green, tapering to 

 hairy fringed tips. Flowers monoecious, in 3-flowered clusters, 

 on branched stalk about 2 feet long, that rise below the base 

 of the leafy crown; January and February; s laminate larger 

 than pistillate. Fruit blue, elongate, berry-like, inch long, 

 with single, large seed. Dist.: Shores and hummock land in 

 river swamps of southern Florida. Common in West Indies 

 and Central America. Much planted on avenues in tropical 

 cities; also as an ornamental in parks and private grounds. 



31 



