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DESCRIPTIVE BOTANY. 



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fixed. Pistillate flowers much like the staminate ones ; ovary oblong, 

 3-celled, conical, with 3 tooth-like stigmas ; ovules 3. Fruit ellipsoidal 

 or subglobular, 1-celled, 1-seeded ; pericarp clothed with scales, imbri- 

 cated. Leaves terminal, nearly erect, pinnatisect; segments usually 

 opposite, linear-lanceolate, acuminate ; petiole convex underneath, 

 furrowed above. Spadix large, branched, loose ; spathe leathery. 

 Flowers immersed in a woolly covering, small. 



M. sagu, Rottb. (Sago Palm.) Trunk 30 to 50 feet high, aud 6 to 15 

 inches in diameter, straight, cylindrical, gray, while young armed with strong, 

 sharp spines to protect it against the attacks of the wild hog ; these spines 

 fall off when the rind has become hard. Outer coat of the trunk hard, inner 

 part spongy. Leaves few, crowning the stem ; entire leaf, including petiole, 



about 20 feet long, erect, slightly curved ; 

 petiole 6 to 8 inches in diameter near the 

 base, clasping ; rachis square below, and 

 keeled or triangular above. Leaflets many 

 and opposite, middle ones longer, straight, 

 stiff, narrow, linear-lanceolate, acute, entire, 

 leathery and smooth, 3 veined, bright-green 

 above, pale beneath. Flowers unisexual or 

 perfect, sometimes mixed in the same spadix, 

 numerous, small, each with three small 

 bracts, smooth within, covered on the out- 

 side with a yellowish wool, and in the axil 

 of a strong smooth bract. Inflorescence in 

 a cylindrical, dense spike, 4 inches long. 

 The whole inflorescence consists of numer- 

 ous spikes arranged along on 6 to 9 main 

 stalks, which crown the tree, making a 

 center-piece for the leaves. Calyx rigid, 

 smooth, and 3-lobed ; corolla much larger 

 than the calyx, cut into three obtuse, thin 

 segments ; stamens 6, as long as the corolla, 

 and inserted on it at its base ; ovary short-stalked, imperfectly 3-celled, 1 ovule 

 in a cell ; style conical, tapering, pointed. Fruit one and a half inches in 

 diameter, spherical, mucronate at summit, clothed with greenish-red scales. 

 Seed solitary, enveloped in a dark-brown testa. The tree matures in from 

 1 5 to 20 years, when it flowers and fruits and dies. The seeds seldom mature, 

 and the tree is propagated by stolons. 



There are six species of this palm, but the sago of commerce is obtained 

 from the following species : — 



M. sagu, M. spinosa, and M. Igevis. 



Geographjj. — This tree is found only in the tropics, in the hottest and wet- 

 test parts of Asia. It flourishes throughout the Eastern Archipelago, extend- 

 ing about 10 degrees both sides of the equator, abounding in swampy localities. 



Etymology. — Metroxylon is from the Greek iirirpa, the heart or pith ; i,v\ov, 

 wood or tree ; hence pith-tree. Sagu is the Malay name for " bread " or 

 " food." Sago is a corruption of sagu. 



History. — There is no reason to believe that the ancients were acquainted 

 with the product of this tree. When the East Indies were first visited by 



Metroxylon sagu (Sago Palm). 



