308 DICTIONARY OF POPULAR NAMES PALMETTO 



warmer countries, such as the South of France, it becomes a 

 soft- wooded tree. The bruised seeds afford the well-known 

 castor oil, the supply for this country being derived principally 

 from India. The leaves have lately come into repute as food 

 for a species of silkworm, and in some parts of Germany it is 

 o-rown for that purpose. Castor oil appears to have been known 

 to the ancients, as seeds of it have been found in the tombs of 

 Egypt, supposed to have been 4000 years old. It is mentioned 

 by Herodotus and Hippocrates about 400 years before the Chris- 

 tian era, and it was then (as it is now) extensively cultivated in 

 these countries for its oil for burning. 



Palmetto Palm (Chamcerops or Sctbal Palmetto), a fan- 

 leaved palm, attaining a height of 10 or more feet, occupying 

 larsfe tracts on the Atlantic coasts of the Southern United States. 

 It was adopted as the emblem on the banners of the Southern 

 Confederation. 



Palmetto, Royal, a name in Jamaica for Sabal umhra- 



culifera, a noble fan-leaved palm, attaining a height of 80 to 



100 feet, with a circumference of 5 to 6 feet ; native of a hot 



valley in Jamaica known as the Pedro Plains, where it abounds. 



Its tall naked stems, crowned with large fan-shaped glaucous 



leaves, form a grand aspect in nature. Its fruit is produced in 



branched panicles, consisting of large blackish berries like a 



small date, and the sweet pulp furnishes food for numerous kinds 



of birds. It is also known by the name of hig thatch and hull 



thatch, and, as the name implies, it is used for thatching houses. 



Hats, ropes, mats, and baskets, are made of it. The trunk is 



smooth and externally hard, and of iron-like firmness, while the 



interior is soft and spongy. It is cut into lengths, and the soft 



centre being removed a hollow cylinder is thus formed which is 



used for many purposes. A noble specimen of this palm, 20 



feet high, is to be seen in the Palm-house, Eoyal Gardens, Kew. 



Palmetto, Saw (Chamcerops semdata), a decumbent-stemmed 



palm, attaining a height of 3 to 4 feet, having fan -shaped 



leaves, with edges of the segments sharply serrulate, as also that 



of the foot-stalk, spadix tomentose, shorter than the leaves. 



