428 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [December 



the trunk, at least for the greater part of its length, beneath a gray 

 thatch, an ideal protection against the parching air of the desert. 

 The dead leaves are usually kept cut away from cultivated trees, 

 while it is almost impossible to find mature indigenous palms from 

 which the leaves have not been repeatedly burned. To so bum them 

 was the immemorial custom of the desert Indians^ and it has been 

 erroneously alleged that in this they were influenced by a superstitious 



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motive— the making of an offering by fire to the spirits of the dead. 

 In fact their purpose was purely utilitarian, namely, to facilitate the 

 gathering of the fruit, and, as they believed, to increase the fruit- 

 fulness of the trees. That the trees survive these repeated burnings 

 is evidence of their wonderful vitality. 



The functional life of a leaf is about one year. How long the 



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dead leaves would remain attached to the trunk if undisturbed cannot 

 be stated; probably for a very long period. There is a row of trees 

 in San Bernardino fully ro"". tall from which the leaves have never 

 been removed, and the lowest are over twenty-five years old and still 

 firmly attached to the trunk. In a secluded nook of San Jacinto 

 Mountain there is reported to be a group of three majestic palms, 20^ 



m n 



or more in height, whose trunks are clothed with a dense leaf-thatch 

 from crown to base ; their age cannot be less than a century. From 

 the burned trees the leaves eventually fall off in great masses, the 

 bases of the petioles seeming to have been violently wrenched loose, 

 and not to have naturally separated, as with deciduous leaves. 



Ahoriginal uses. — The habitations of the desert Indians were mere 

 shelters, but naturally palm leaves, when easily procured, were utilized 

 in their primitive construction. Strands split from the leaves were 

 convenient for tying, and it is said were sometimes used for the spiral 

 coil with which they built up their baskets (Mereiam :03)." They 

 were also used in building the characteristic granaries used by these 

 Indians for storing the various seeds used by them for food. 



Of these food supplies the fruit of the palm was an important 

 part. It was eaten fresh, and also dried for preservation. A favorite 

 method of preparing the dried fruit was by triturating it with water 



1 1 The stems of a grass, Epicampes rigens, was the material commonly used for 

 this purpose. I have never seen a basket in the construction of which pahn leaves 

 had entered. 



