The Palms and the Palmettos 



with bare, slender stems crowned with round, leafy heads, looking 

 almost like the royal palms. The great clusters of small yellow 

 flowers followed by black berries hang from among the leaves, 

 ripe in autumn but persisting into the following summer. 



The cabbage palmetto grows, as do all palms, from a central 

 terminal bud. This bud is the "cabbage" in this genus, a tender, 

 succulent vegetable which is cut out of the middle of the stem, 

 cooked and eaten. It is said to be "the very quintescence of 

 cabbage." It is, of course, the death of the tree to lose this 

 growing point. 



The fibrous roots are matted in an intricate fashion under 

 these trees, and long, tough rootlets go out on all sides for twenty 

 feet or more. The wood is soft and spongy, with many hard 

 fibro-vascular bundles running lengthwise of the stem. The outer 

 rind is thick and much lighter than the centre. The trunks are 

 used as piles and manufactured into canes and other small 

 articles. The fibrous bark in cross section is made into cheap 

 scrubbing brushes, and fibres of leaf sheaths make the bristles 

 of more permanent ones. Houses are thatched with the adult 

 leaves. Baskets, hats and mats are made from strips of the 

 white, immature leaves. In Southeastern cities palmettos are 

 used as a street and ornamental tree to a considerable extent. 

 "Palmetto scrub" is the bane of hunters, surveyors and others 

 who are obliged to go on foot through regions covered with the 

 tough young growth of these trees. 



. The Mexican Palmetto (Sabal Mexicana, Mart.) grows in 

 the valley of the Rio Grande in Texas and down the coast to 

 Mexico. Its height somewhat exceeds that of the cabbage 

 palmetto, which it strongly resembles. The trunks are used 

 for wharf piles, and leaves for the thatching of houses. It is a 

 favourite street tree in many Texas towns. 



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