TRE PALMS OF BRITISH INDIA AND CEYLON. 385 



there appears a lateral emergence which increases rapidly in bulk, 

 and from which, after some time, the plumule emerges. The 

 primary root, producing a few rootlets, remains the only one for a 

 long time. After this the cotyledonal ligule begins to swell and 

 becomes longer towards the base. From this newly formed body 

 (called stolon by Karsten^) there arise adventitious roots which are 

 below the primary root. 



Flowers. — In June (in North America) ; fruit ripens late in the 

 autumn. 



Habitat. — This palm inhabits sandy soil in the immediate neigh- 

 bourhood of the coast, and is distributed from Smith's Island at the 

 mouth of the Cape Fear Eiver, North Carolina, to Key Largo, 

 Florida (26° N. L.) and along the Gulf coast of the mouth of the 

 Appalachicola River. Often forming groves of considerable extent 

 on the Atlantic coast, it is most abundant and grows to its largest 

 size on the west coast of the Florida Peninsula South of Cedar Keys. 



" The survival of Sabal palmetto, with its tall columnar trunk 

 and broad crown of foliage, the most boreal of existing palm trees 

 in a region where the j&ora is northern in its predominating types, 

 gives special interest to the coast of the south-eastern United States, 

 where it is the most conspicuous feature of the vegetation." 

 (Sargent). 



Uses. — The wood of the Cabbage Palmetto is light, soft, and 

 pale brown in colour, and contains numerous hard fibro-vascular 

 bundles which make it difficult to work, the outer rim of the stem,, 

 about 2 -inches in thickness, being much lighter and softer. The 

 specific gravity of the absolutely dry wood is 0*4404, a cubic foot 

 weighing 27*45 pounds. In the Southern States the trunks are used 

 for wharf-piles ; polished cross-sections of the stem sometimes 

 serve for the tops of small tables, and the wood is largely 

 manufactured into cases. From the sheaths of J^oung leaves the 

 bristles of scrubbing-brushes now often used in the United States 

 are made in Florida in considerable quantities. To obtain the fibre 

 used in the manufacture, 3-4 feet of the top of the tree, ' the bud, ' 



Karsten. Ueber die Bewurzelung- der Palmen. LinnEea, p. 601-608. Halle, 

 1856. 



