VEGETABLE GARDEN 



1993 



Composition of Vegetables — (Continued) 



tSucar in fruit, 3.05 per cent; acid fmalic). 0.46 per cent. 

 ^Compiled by office of Experiment Station. 



VEGETABLE IVOET 



The plant known in commerce as veg- 

 etable ivory is classed by botanists as 

 Phytclephas macrocarpa. It is a native 

 of South and Central America, growing 

 chiefly on the banks of the river Mag- 

 dalena. and Colombia, It is a palm, which 

 yields a hard, fine-grained white sub- 

 stance which is the reserve cellulose 

 stored in the cell walls of the fruits. Its 

 stem reclines upon the ground for a few 

 feet, and then is crowned with long, 

 linear, plume-like pinate leaves, arching 

 upwards for 20 or 30 feet. Its fruits lie 

 near the ground, are globular, about as 

 large as a man's head, and consist of sev- 

 eral drupes enclosed in a woody, wart- 

 covered wall. The kernels of the drupes 



•Wolff. 



or seeds are about as large as hens' eggs, 

 and when very young contain a clear, 

 insipid fluid, which is used by travelers 

 instead of water. As in the case of the 

 cocoanut, this fluid becomes milky and 

 sweet flavored, and the nuts are eagerly 

 eaten at this stage by animals; but they 

 continue to thicken and harden until, 

 when fully ripe, the seeds are so very 

 hard as to form a valuable substitute for 

 elephant ivory. 



It is mostly found in separate groves, 

 not mixed with other trees or shrubs, for 

 it seems to grow where scarcely anything 

 else can grow. It is known by the na- 

 tives on the banks of the Magdalena as 

 Tagau, on the coast of Darien as Anta, 

 and in Peru as Homero. 



Granville Lowtiier 



