THE PALMS OF BRITISH INDIA AND CEYLON. 681 



with a longitudinal furrow in front, and a small cylindric embryo 

 in the middle of the rounded back. When the seed germinates, 

 that end of the embryo which remains enclosed in the albumen 

 enlarges at the expense of the albumen, the horny substance of 

 which is converted into sugar and other soluble substances, which 

 are absorbed by the embryo furnishing the substance for its early 

 growth. The process is analogous to the conversion into sugar of 

 the starch which fills the cells of the albumen of wheat, maize, rice 

 and bamboos, during germination, with this difference, that the 

 starch forms the contents of the cells, whereas, in the stone of 

 the date, the walls of the cells themselves furnish the food of the 

 growing embryo. 



Habitat. — In India the date palm is cultivated and self-sown in 

 Sind and in the Southern Panjab, particularly near Multan and 

 Muzaffargarh, also in the Sind Sagar Doab and trans-Indus 

 territory. Near Dhera Ghazi Khan, date palms are very nume- 

 rous on a strip 10-12 miles long from north to south. A few trees 

 are found planted at many places in the Eastern Panjab^ also at 

 Saharanpur, and here and there in the Ganges Doab and Bandei- 

 khand. It is also grown in the Deccan and Gujarat, but does not 

 thrive in Bengal. The tree was probably introduced into India at 

 the time of the first Mahomedan conquest of Sind, at the begin- 

 ning of the eighth century. It thrives luxuriantly in the arid 

 rainless regions of North Africa and West Asia, where it is exposed 

 to extreme heat in the day-time, and not uncommonly to frost 

 at night, but it requires a certain amount of moisture in the soil. 

 In Europe it is cultivated in Spain, where it was introduced by 

 the Arabs, and where it produces eatable fruit ; also on the Hyeres 

 islands, the Riviera near Nice, St. Remo, and Genoa, where it 

 attains its northernmost point at 44° 30' N. L. There is a wood 

 of Date Palms at Bordighera near St. Remo, said to contain over 

 4,000 stems cultivated mainly to yield palms for Palm Sunday at 

 Rome. In South Italy, Sicily, and Greece, the tree is not uncom- 

 mon, but the fruit is small and poor. 



Flowers in March and April; fruit ripens in August, September, 

 and October. 



