17 



be left out of the question; the two that are fairly common are 

 Phoenix reclinata, known to the natives as i-sundu, its fruits 

 being small with something of the flavour of the " Date," to 

 which the plant is nearly related; the other species is Hyphasne 

 crinita, the " Uala " palm, and this is the plant which bears 

 the fruits which have been thought to be " Vegetable Ivory." 

 The Ilala Palm is only found in the coast districts, from the 

 Umzinto to far into Zululand, and in some parts of Zululand 

 it bears the nuts in abundance, and I have been informed that 

 it has also borne seeds in the Umzinto districts and perhaps 

 near TJmkomaas also. About 25 years or more ago I saw 

 many plants of it on the Durbau Flats, but the district is now 

 built over, with a tramway through its centre ; these plants 

 were always small and stunted, and quite possibly some may 

 still be found between the Railway line and the beach* If the 

 price mentioned to me could be obtained for these nuts it 

 w r ou!d be worth while to collect them for expoi t, but to culti- 

 vate the plants for profit is quite out of the question, for in the 

 first place the plants would hardly bear seeds under 20 years 

 from planting, and would probably be longer than that; in the 

 next place the plants are male and female, and it would be 

 certainly found that the males would fat- exceed the females in 

 number, and it is not possible to distinguish the two until the 

 time of flowering arrives. A row of seeds of these plants were 

 sown in the Botanic Gardens, by the late Mr. McKen propably 

 40 years ago ; the length of the row is about 20 yards, and 17 

 plants are alive, 13 of these are dwarf, sickly looking plants 

 without sign of stem or trunk, in fact just as I remember 

 seeing plants of this species years ago near the place now 

 known as 1st Avenue ; one plant is just beginning to form a 

 stem while three have each several stems from 12 to 15 feet in 

 height ; these bore flowers some years ago and all of them are 

 male plants, so I think that the idea of growing these plants 

 for profit may be finally abandoned. 



Machilus Nan-Md, Oliver. Order Laurine^j. 



In the Kew Bulletin for 1877 there appeared a short 

 account of a Chinese tree then known as the Nan-Mu tree of 

 the Chinese, and it is said that the wood is " highly esteemed 

 by the court for building purposes, and by the wealthy for 

 coffins on account of its durability. This timber is to be seen 

 in perfect condition after the lapse of nearly three centuries." 

 It also says: " The tree is tall, thin, straight growing, having 

 no boughs or twigs on the stem, but suddenly shooting out 

 branches at the top somewhat resembling a canopy over a 

 maypole," At this time the tree was undescribed, but thought 

 to belong to the Order Laurineaa. In 1879 further information 

 had been obtained, and the plant had been described from the 



