sturtevant's notes on edible plants 429 



Phoenix acaulis Buch.-Ham. Palmae. 



East Indies and Burma. The astringent fruits are eaten by the Lepchas, who call 

 the tree schap} 



P. dactylifera Linn, date palm. 



Northern Africa and Arabia. In the East, the date tree has ever been the benefactor 

 of mankind. The life of the wandering tribes in the desert circles around tbe date tree, 

 and the Arabian poets ascribed such high importance to it that they maintain that the 

 noble tree was not formed with other plants but from the clods which remained after 

 the creation of Adam. The native land of the date palm seems to have been originally 

 the region along the east side of the Persian Gtdf, whence it has been distributed in 

 the earliest periods of commerce to Arabia, Persia, Hindustan and westward over the 

 whole of north Africa. Hartt ^ mentions a few date palms which bore fruit at Macei, 

 Brazil, and the tree is in gardens in Florida, whence they were probably received from 

 the United States Patent Office about i860. In 1867, Atwood' says numerous, large 

 and beautiful specimens may be seen in the gardens of St. Augustine. Redmond,^ 1875, 

 says the date is cultivated to a limited extent in south Florida. In the oasis of Siwah, 

 St. John found four kinds cultivated: the Sultani with long, blue fruit; the Farayah, white 

 ones of a kind said not to be grown in Egypt; the Saidi, or common date; and the Weddee, 

 good only for camels and donkeys. Some yellow dates, he says, were much less elongated 

 than others he had seen, with more flesh in comparison to the size of the stone and very 

 luscious. The female flowers of the date are fertilized artificially. In Sind, in Arabia 

 and elsewhere, this is done before the flower-sheaths open; a hole is made in the sheath 

 of the female flower and a few bits of the male panicle are inserted. At Multan, India, 

 Mr. Edgeworth ' states that there is a date tree which bears a stoneless fruit and that 

 in former times it was considered a royal tree, and the fruits were reserved for royal use. 

 The fruit furnishes, fresh or dried, the staple food of large regions. The large, succulent 

 head cut from among the mass of leaves is also eaten. The sap is sweetish and may be 

 used as a drink or distilled into a kind of spirit. 



P. farinifera Roxb. 



A dwarf palm common in the country between the Ganges and Cape Comorin. Its 

 exterior, or woody part, consists of white fibers matted together; these envelope a large 

 quantity of farinaceous substance, which the natives use for food in times of scarcity.' 



P. htimilis Royle. 



East Indies, Burma and China. The fruit, of a purple-black color, is sweet and is 

 eaten in India.' 



' Treas. Bol. 2:1340. 1876. 



' Hartt Ceog. Braz. 425. 1870. 



' Atwood U. S. D. A. Rpt. 145. 1867. 



* Redmond Amer. Pom. Soc. 55. 1875. 



' Edgeworth Journ. Agr. Hort. Soc. India. Nov. 20, 1867. 



Seemann, B. Pop. Hist. Palms ii\. 1856. 



'Brandis, D. Forest Fl. $=,5. 1874. 



