194 ON THE ECONOMIC USES OF LEAVES. 



supposed to be indebted for its name to the fact that it was one of the 

 plants smoked by the Indians instead of the genuine " weed." Under the 

 name of " tomboki," the leaf of a species ol Lobelia, is smoked in parts of 

 Asia. Beet leaves have been lately recommended as a tobacco substi- 

 tute in France. 



The leaves of the betel pepper vine are in extensive use in Asia with 

 the betel nut. In the markets incredible quantities of the leaves are 

 offered for sale in piles carried about in baskets. The betel leaf is a 

 powerful stimulant to the salivary glands and digestive organs, and 

 diminishes the perspiration of the skin. 



In Peru and Bolivia an important trade is carried on in the leaves of 

 the coca, another narcotic, which is considered stimulant and tonic. 

 Large heaps of the freshly-dried leaves, particularly while the warm rays 

 of the sun are upon them, diffuse a very strong smell, resembling that 

 of hay, in which there is a quantity of milfoil. Birch leaves were for- 

 merly used internally and externally m cases of dropsy. They are em- 

 ployed at the present day in Finland for tea- 

 Palm leaf hats are common in many countries. The well-known and 

 high-priced Panama hats have already been described in our pages- 

 From Catacaos, Peru, there are frequently exported 10,000 or 12,000 

 doz. of palm fibre hats, valued at 60,000Z. Palm leaf is sold in Salvador 

 Brazil, in bundles of sixty leaves, at about 14s. to 16s. Palmetto is a 

 common name for several small palms. One species is much utilised in 

 Bermuda, where the leaves are worked into baskets, table mats, hats, 

 bonnets, and other articles. There is a utensil also formed of the leaf 

 doubled very neatly at the end of a turned handle. The palmetto is 

 about sixteen inches long, and is used in bed like a fly flapper, much to 

 the discomfiture of that little insidious insect, the mosquito. The Ber- 

 mudians make them with painted and decorated handles, and few towns 

 in the islands are without them. 



The stately Corypha Palm (Livistonia Australis) one of the "princes 

 of the vegetable world," attains the length of more than sixty feet. It 

 furnishes in its young leaf stalks and terminal buds the palm cabbage, a 

 food equally wholesome and delicious, whilst the fan-shaped leaves are 

 eagerly collected for the manufacture of the well-known cabbage-tree 

 hats of Australia, which if not so fine as the Panama hats, are equally 

 strong and serviceable. 



The leaves of the dwarf fan palm (Cliamaerops humilis) are used in 

 Algeria for making brooms, seats of chairs, hats, thatch for cottages, &c. 

 The leaves of another class of short palms, the Thrinax, have many eco- 

 nomic uses. T. argeutea furnishes the chip which is woven into hats, 

 and made into baskets and wicker-work ; while other species of the 

 genus supply the palmetto thatch, which forms an article of export from 

 North America. The leaves of Borassiis flabelliformis are used for writ- 

 ing on, for thatching houses, and making baskets, mats, umbrellas, and 

 fans. Strong and durable fibres are produced from the petioles of the 



