THE PALMS 



LUMBERMEN in this country could get along very well without the 

 palms, as they are little used for ordinary lumber. Their wood does 

 not grow in concentric rings, like that of the ordinary tree. The stems 

 are usually single, cylindrical, and unbranched. The fruit is berry-like, 

 and is usually one seeded, though sometimes there are two or three. 

 When a seed sprouts, it puts out at first a single leaf, like a grain of com. 

 About 130 genera of palms are recognized in the world, most of them in 

 the tropics, but several in the United States are of tree size. Botanists 

 divide the palms of the United States into two groups, the palm family 

 and the lily family. The yuccas belong in the lily family. In the very 

 brief treatment that can be given the subject here, it is not necessary to 

 recognize strict family divisions. 



CABBAGE PALMETTO (Sabal palmetto) grows in the coast region 

 from North Carolina to southern Florida, and west to the Apalachicola 

 river. It is sometimes called Bank's palmetto, cabbage tree, and tree 

 palmetto. The name cabbage is due to the large leaf-bud hi the top of 

 the stem which is cooked as a substitute for cabbage. A sharp hatchet 

 and some experience are necessary to a successful operation in extracting 

 the bud from the tough fibers which surround it. 



This palm is a familiar sight in the coast region within its range. 

 The tall trunks, with tufts of leaves at the tops, suggest the supposed 

 scenery of the Carboniferous age. Usually the trunks, in thick stands, 

 rise straight like columns from twenty to forty feet high, but occasionally 

 they bend hi long, graceful curves, as if the weight of the tops caused 

 them to careen, which is probably what does happen. They vary in 

 diameter from eight inches to two feet. 



The leaves are five or six feet long, and seven or eight wide, with 

 stems six or seven feet long. Flowers occur in racemes two feet or more 

 in length. The fruit is spherical and about a third of an inch in diameter. 

 The roots are an important part of this palm, and are adapted to their 

 environment, forming a rounded mass four or five feet in diameter, while 

 small rope-like roots, half an inch in diameter, penetrate the wet marshy 

 soil fifteen or twenty feet. The large, globe-like mass gives support in 

 the soft soil, and the stringy roots supply water and mineral substances 

 essential to growth. The wood is light, soft, pale-brown, with numerous 

 hard, fibro-vascular bundles, the outer rim about two inches thick and 

 much lighter and softer than the interior. The most important use for 

 the wood at present is as wharf piles. It lasts well and is ideal in form. 

 It is of historical interest that Fort Moultrie which defended Charleston, 



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