310 DICTIONARY OF POPULAR NAMES PALO 



large quantities of jaggery sugar are obtained from it. The young 

 plants are used as a vegetable. The wood of its stem is hard, 

 and employed for all manner of domestic purposes, and umbrellas 

 and books are made of its leaves. It is represented in Central 

 Africa by B. cetliiopum, which is widely spread within the tropics ; 

 its fruit is somewhat larger than its Indian ally, but similar in 

 form, and of a dark yellow colour. It consists of a fibrous, pulpy 

 husk, of an agreeable odour and acid-sweet taste ; it is eaten, 

 or rather sucked, by the natives. The young seedling plants are 

 used as a vegetable, in the same way as those of the last-named 

 species are in India, but the sap of the palm is not extracted for 

 making toddy, wine, or sugar. In Gambia it is called the 

 Eun Palm, and is considered to be the most valuable wood for 

 building ; it resists the attacks of the white ant, and remains 

 sound under water for years ; it is very hard, and takes a fine 

 polish. Trees have been seen in Gambia 90 to 120 feet high, 

 of which 80 feet or more of the trunk are perfectly clean, and 

 somewhat swollen about half-way up. 



Palo de Vaca. (Sec Cow Tree.) 



Palo Santo, a name in Guiana for Swartzia tomentosa, a tree 

 of the Ctesalpiniese section of the Bean family (Leguminosse), 

 native of the forests of Guiana, where it attains a height of 60 

 or more feet, and upwards of 3 feet in diameter, supported at the 

 base by 6 or 8 projecting narrow buttresses. Its heart wood is 

 of a reddish colour, becoming black in old trees, and is very hard 

 and durable. A juice exudes from the bark which hardens into 

 a blackish resin. The name Palo Santo is also applied in Para- 

 guay to Lignum Vitae. 



Pampas Grass {Gyneriu^n argenteum), a strong - tufted 

 perennial grass, with long, narrow, whitish leaves, producing 

 naked culms 5 or 6 or more feet in length, bearing a dense head 

 of spikes of numerous small flowers, which when perfect be- 

 come white, and form an ornamental plume from 1 to 2 feet in 

 length. It is a native of the grassy plains of South America, 

 called Pampas. It is perfectly hardy in this country, and 

 higlily valued as an ornamental garden plant. 



