692 AMERICAN FOREST TREES 



South Carolina, in the Revolutionary war, was built of palmetto logs. 

 When the British made then- memorable attack in 1776, their cannon 

 balls buried in the spongy logs without dislodging them, and the fort 

 successfully withstood the bombardment of ten hours, and disabled 

 nine of the ten British ships taking part in the assault. 



The wood is employed to a small extent in furniture making, and 

 the bark for scrubbing brushes. Some of the finest forests of palmetto 

 in Florida are much injured by fire that runs up the trunks to feed on 

 stubs of leaves. 



SILKTOP PALMETTO (Thrinax parviflora) and silvertop palmetto 

 (Thrinax microcarpa) are species met with on some of the islands off the 

 coast of southern Florida. 



MEXICAN PALMETTO (Sabal mexicana) is much like cabbage 

 palmetto in size and general appearance, and is put to similar uses, except 

 that the leaf -bud does not appear to be used as food. The tree occurs in 

 Texas along the lower Rio Grande, and southward into Mexico where the 

 leaves are employed as house thatch by improvident Mexicans and 

 Indians who do not care to exert themselves to procure better roofing 

 material. In the vicinity of Brownsville, Texas, trunks of this palm 

 are employed as porch posts and present a rustic appearance. They 

 are said to last many years. The average size of trunks in Texas is 

 fifteen or twenty feet high and a foot or less in diameter, but some much 

 larger are found in Mexico. Some of the wharfs along the Texas coast 

 are built on palmetto piles. It is said the trunks are not as strong as 

 those of the cabbage palmetto in Florida. 



SARGENT PALM (Pseudophcenix sargentii) is interesting but not 

 commercially important, but may become so as an ornamental plant. 

 It is occasionally planted on lawns in south Florida. Leaves are five or 

 six feet long with stems still longer. The clusters of flowers are some- 

 times three feet in length. A single species is known, occurring on certain 

 keys in southern Florida, and is so limited in its range that it would be 

 possible to count every tree in existence. A grove of 200 or 300 trees 

 occurs on Key Largo. 



ROYAL PALM (Oreodoxa regia) is one of the largest palms of this 

 country. It is said to reach a height of eighty feet, but such sizes are 

 rare. The trunk rises from an enlarged base, and may be two feet in 

 diameter. Bark is light gray in color, and its appearance suggests a 

 column of cement. Leaves are ten or twelve feet long, and the stems 

 increase the total length to twenty feet or more. Flowers are two feet 

 in length, and in Florida open in January and February. The fruit is 

 smaller than would be expected of a tree so large. It is a drupe about 

 the size of a half-grown grape. The wood is spongy, but the outer 



