Borassus.] LXXVII. PALM^E. 545 



of leaves 60-80, parchment-like, smooth, shining, folded along the midrib, 

 linesir-lanceolate, connate to haK their length, entire, at last bifid, 1 8-30 

 in. long, diameter of the leaf 3-5 ft. j petiole 2-4 ft. long. Male spikes 

 drooping, flowers delicate, pink and yeUow, one flower only opening at 

 a time in each bract. Fruit subglobose, depressed, 5-7 in. diam., smooth, 

 shining, dark brown shaded with yellow, rind coriaceous, enclosing a 

 yellow pulp mixed with tongh straw-coloured fibres, which surround 

 the seeds. Seeds 2-4, generally 3, broad, heart-shaped ; albumen white, 

 cartilaginous. 



Cultivated in the Indian Archipelago, the trans-Gangetic peninsula, Ceylon, 

 South and Central India, Bengal, and Lower Sindh. In North- West India as far 

 north as AHigarh and Shahiehanpur. Isolated trees in gardens in Bohilkhand 

 and the Upper Ganges Doab as far as Saharanpur. Also on both sides of the 

 Persian Gulf, attaining there about the same latitude as in North-West India — 

 30° N.L. Fl. March ; the fruit ripens in April or May. Generally 40-60 ft. 

 high, but attains 100 ft. in Burma (in the splendid Palmyra groves of the 

 Prome district), and perhaps elsewhere. Forked and branching stems are occa- 

 sionally found. Diam. of a full-grown tree above the generally thick base, 

 about 18-24 inches, liie heart of the tree is soft, but the outer wood is hard, 

 heavy, and durable, consisting of numerous thick black vascular bundles. 

 Weight, 65 lb. ; value of P. 944, Skinner. The stems are hoUowed out and em- 

 ployed as water-pipes ; cut half through lengthwise they serve as gutters and open 

 channels. The outer wood is used for posts, rafters, and builduig generally, 

 also for furniture. The leaves are, like those of Gorypha, universally employed 

 for writing upon (with a pointed iron style); documents written on Palm-leaves 

 last severS. centuries ; the leaves are also used as thatch and for mats and basket- 

 work. The pulp of the fruit is eaten, raw or roasted, and a preserve is made 

 of it in Ceylon. The unripe seeds, and particularly the young plants 2-3 months 

 old, are an important article of food. But the most valuable produce of the 

 tree is the sweet sap which runs from the peduncles cut before flowering, and 

 collected in Bamboo tubes or in earthen pots tied to the cut peduncle. Nearly 

 all the sugar made in Burma, and a large proportion of the sugar made m South 

 India and the Konkan, is the produce of this Palm. The sap is also fermented 

 into toddy and distilled. 



To the same genus belongs the Ddeb Palm, Borassus Jlthiopum, Mart., a 

 common tree in a large tract of tropical Africa south of the Sahwa, from Tim- 

 buktu to the NUe, and from Lake Tchad to the Nyassa Lake. The frmt, but 

 stiU more the young seedlings, which are raised on a large scale for that purpose, 

 are important as an article of food. Two other remarkable Palms are classed 

 under the tribe of Borassinece : 1. Lodoicea SecMlarum,habiR. ;iiot. Mag t. 

 2734-38, the Coco de Mer, Double GocoorNut. A taU Palm with distinctly 

 annulated stem, crowned with a tuft of 12-20 gigantic leaves, folded up 

 when young like a shut fan, expanding afterwards mto a broadly ovate blade, 

 numerous fateral ribs diverging from a prominent nudrib at acute angles, 

 the edges more or less deeply cut ; petiole as long as leaf. The flowers are 

 dioicous, and similar to those of BoroMus; the male flowers, however, have 

 15-20 monadelphous stamens. The fruit takes several yeais to come to 

 maturity. It attams a gigantic size ; the weight of the ripe frmt is often 

 40-50 \i., and consists of a thick fibrous rmd, enclosmg 1, sometimes 2 or 3, hard 

 nuts, wWch axe 2-lobed, somethnes 6-lobed. When ripe the albumen of the 

 seed is homy, but when unripe the inside of the frmt is sof and eatable. The 

 unripe fruit is eaten, and the hard black shell of the nut is carved mto oma- 

 ^ 2 M 



