PALMA OF ECONOMIC PLANTS. 307 



the finest, and used in cookery. The greatest quantities coming 

 from the kingdoms of Ashantee and Dahomey, where the palm 

 grows in great abundance, and being of great longevity, the pro- 

 duce may be considered inexhaustible. In this country it is 

 chiefly employed for the manufacture of soap and candles. 

 Another oil-yielding species of Elais is E. melanococca, a native 

 of some parts of tropical America. A low-growing palm, rising 

 but little above the ground, its fruits are of a red colour, but its 

 oil does not form an article of commerce with this country. 



Palm Wine or Toddy, the sap of several palms. The prin- 

 cipal ones of India are — 1. Fhcenix sylvestris, the Wild Date, 

 a wing-leaved palm, attaining a considerable height, common 

 throughout India. 2. Borassus flabclliformis {see Palmyra 

 Palm). 3. Caryota urens, a graceful palm, attaining a height 

 of 50 or 60 feet, bearing a crown of bipinnate leaves. The 

 wine is obtained by a man, called the toddy-man, climbing 

 the tree and cutting the flowering spadix before it expands, to 

 the cut end of which a vessel is hung, into which the sap flows, 

 and is collected every morning. In some cases it continues 

 to flow, more or less, for a month. When fresh, toddy is a 

 pleasant drink, but it soon ferments and becomes intoxicating. 

 When distilled it becomes a spirit called Arrack — the gin of 

 India. In Borneo the best toddy is obtained from Saguerus 

 sacclmrifera ; it yields a gallon a day for two months. BaijMct 

 vinifera, a wing-leaved palm, supplies the toddy of Western tropi- 

 cal Africa. This palm, like its congeners, bears a large bunch of 

 fruit, 6 feet in length, and weighing 200 lbs., the shell of the 

 fruit being covered with closely-imbricated scales, and is used 

 as an ornament. The sugar called Jaggery in India is obtained 

 by boiling the toddy. 



Palma Christi {Pdcimis communis), a tree of the S23urgewort 

 family (Euphorbiacepe), originally supposed to be a native of 

 India, but now widely spread over the warm regions of the earth. 

 In this country it makes a handsome summer plant, havmg an 

 erect stem from 4 to 5 feet high, bearing large, broad, lobed 

 leaveS; the whole being of a rusty, dark green appearance. In 



