256 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA 



28. Phoenix silvestris. 



Wild date-palm. Very common. 



29. Tar. Borassiis flahelliformis. 



The toddy-palm or Palmyra-tree. There are some fine specimens 

 at Gorakhpur, growing to a surprising height for so slender a 

 stem, with fine leafy head of great fronds. In its native 

 forests in Southern India it is, next to the date-palm, the 

 most valuable tree, and is used as timber for rafters split out 

 of the stem. It is nearly the strongest timber known, hard 

 and black. Its leaves are plaited into mats and baskets, and 

 make paper for writing on. The top is tapped to make sugar 

 and toddy. It is a beautiful feature in the Oriental landscape. 

 It is very slow growing, and has a sappy pith inside ; outside 

 it is as hard as iron. 



Of palms there are the cocoanut-palm {Cocos nuciferd) ; 

 the sago-palm {Arenga saccharifera) ; in Bengal three species 

 of palms : Corypha umbraailifera, C. ialiera, C. Gebanga — 

 all useful for numerous purposes. The areca-palm {Areca 

 catechu) is the most slender of all, growing to 80 feet high, 

 with a stem only a few inches in girth. This and the cocoa- 

 nut only grow near the sea. In Upper India palms are 

 comparatively rare, and do not, as is supposed, always 

 adorn the landscape ; but they grow well wherever they 

 have been permitted to remain — in parks and gardens and 

 some jungles, where they have been planted. 



30. Bet. Calamus Rot an g. 



A genus of palms, Calamus, of which there are fifty-eight known 

 species. It has many representatives in India, the Rattan or 

 Malacca cane being the stoutest. The more slender sorts — 

 C. gracilis and C. scipioitem — abound on the edges of rivers 

 in the Terai and the Assam hills, the ropes winding in tangled 

 coils several hundred feet long, all armed with thorns and 

 furnished with graceful, palm-like leaves. From these canes 

 the celebrated suspension bridges of Sylhet are made, being 

 often alive and actually growing while spanning great torrents. 

 The split-cane-work for chair-bottoms and furniture, known 

 all over the world, is woven from this material. 



The above are a few of the most remarkable forest products 

 deserving notice which abound in the jungles of India. 



