Borassus.] LXXVII. PALM^E. 545 



of leaves 60-80, parchment-like, smooth, shining, folded along the midrib, 

 linear-lanceolate, connate to half their length, entire, at last bifid, 18-30 

 in. long, diameter of the leaf 3-5 ft. ; petiole 2-4 ft. long. Male spikes 

 drooping, flowers delicate, pink and yellow, one flower only opening at 

 a time in each bract. Fruit subglobose, depressed, 5-7 in. diam., smooth, 

 shining, dark brown shaded with yellow, rind coriaceous, enclosing a 

 yellow pulp mixed with tough straw-coloured fibres, which surround 

 the seeds. Seeds 2-4, generally 3, broad, heart-shaped ; albumen white, 

 cartilaginous. 



Cultivated in the Indian Archipelago, the trans-Gangetic peninsula, Ceylon, 

 South and Central India, Bengal, and Lower Sindh. In North- West India as far 

 north as Alligarh and Shahjehanpur. Isolated trees in gardens in Rohilkhand 

 and the Upper Ganges Doab as far as Saharanpur. Also on both sides of the 

 Persian Gulf, attaining there about the same latitude as in North -West India 

 30 N.L. Fl. March ; the fruit ripens in April or May. Generally 40-60 ft. 

 high, but attains 100 ft. in Burma (in the splendid Palmyra groves of the 

 Prome district), and perhaps elsewhere. Forked and branching stems are occa- 

 sionally found. Diam. of a full-grown tree above the generally thick base, 

 about 18-24 inches. The heart of the tree is soft, but the outer wood is hard, 

 heavy, and durable, consisting of numerous thick black vascular bundles. 

 Weight, 65 lb. ; value of P. 944, Skinner. The stems are hollowed out and em- 

 ployed as water-pipes ; cut half through lengthwise they serve as gutters and open 

 channels. The outer wood is used for posts, rafters, and building generally, 

 also for furniture. The leaves are, like those of Corypha, universally employed 

 for writing upon (with a pointed iron style); documents written on Palm-leaves 

 last several centuries ; the leaves are also used as thatch and for mats and basket- 

 work. The pulp of the fruit is eaten, raw or roasted, and a preserve is made 

 of it in Ceylon. The unripe seeds, and particularly the young plants 2-3 months 

 old, are an important article of food. But the most valuable produce of the 

 tree is the sweet sap which runs from the peduncles cut before flowering, and 

 collected in Bamboo tubes or in earthen pots tied to the cut peduncle. Nearly 

 all the sugar made in Burma, and a large proportion of the sugar made in South 

 India and the Konkan, is the produce of this Palm. The sap is also fermented 

 into toddy and distilled. 



To the same genus belongs the Deleb Palm, Borassus JEthiopum, Mart., a 

 common tree in a large tract of tropical Africa south of the Sahara, from Tim- 

 buktu to the Nile, and from Lake Tchad to the Nyassa Lake. The fruit, but 

 still more the young seedlings, which are raised on a large scale for that purpose, 

 are important as an article of food. Two other remarkable Palms are classed 

 under the tribe of Borassinece : 1. Lodoicea Sechellarum, Labill. ; Bot. Mag. t. 

 2734-38, the Coco de Mer, Double Cocoa-Nut. A tall Palm with distinctly 

 annulated stem, crowned with a tuft of 12-20 gigantic leaves, folded up 

 when young like a shut fan, expanding afterwards into a broadly ovate blade, 

 numerous lateral ribs diverging from a prominent midrib at acute angles, 

 the edges more or less deeply cut ; petiole as long as leaf. The flowers are 

 dioicous, and similar to those of Borassus; the male flowers, however, have 

 15-20 monadelphous stamens. The fruit takes several years to come to 

 maturity. It attains a gigantic size ; the weight of the ripe fruit is often 

 40-50 lb., and consists of a thick fibrous rind, enclosing 1, sometimes 2 or 3, hard 

 nuts, which are 2-lobed, sometimes 6-lobed. When ripe the albumen of the 

 seed is horny, but when unripe the inside of the fruit is soft and eatable. The 

 unripe fruit is eaten, and the hard black shell of the nut is carved into orna- 



2 M 



