Com.] 



86. PALMiE. 



348 



The fibrous rind of tho nuts yields coir fibre. Used for ropes, mats, &c. 

 The oil from the fruit is an important article of trade, used for burning, 

 cooking, the manufacture of soap, &c. For the many uses of the cocoanut 

 tree, see Watt's Gazetteer of Economic Products. 



8. CORYPHA, Linn. 



Tall, stout, annulate palms, (3ying after flowering and fruiting. 

 Leaves very large, orbicular, flabellately multifid ; petiole spinous 

 Spathes many, tabular. Spadix an immense terminal panicle- 

 Flowers small, clustered, bisexual. Calyx cupular, 3-fid. Petals 3, 

 valvate in bud. Stamens 6, equal, anthers dorsifixed. Ovary 3-lobed^ 

 3-celled. Drupe usually solitary. Albumen horny ; embryo spiral. 



C. umbraculifera, Linn. Sp. PI. Ed. II. 1657; PI. Br. I. 6. 428 ; Dalz. 

 & Gibs. Bomb. Fl. Suppl. 94; Brandis For. Fl. 549. The Talipot Palm 

 of Ceylon and the Fan- Palm of South India. Tali, sJiri-tali, K. 



Malabar Coast and Ceylon. In the moist forests of the Kumta and 

 Honavar talukas of North Kanara, covering extensive areas near 

 Gairsoppah and Yena, also in the Honavar taluka and on the Yellapur 

 ghats, sometimes planted in gardens near sea-coast. Flowers at about 

 the age of 40 years and dies down afterwards. This period is probably 

 incorrect and will be definitely settled when the N. Kanara Talipot 

 palm forests have been organized. The horny globose seeds (bajurbet) 

 are made into necklaces, rosaries and buttons and are exported to the 

 Persian Gulf ports from North Kanara. Segments of the leaves are used 

 for writing on, and there is a large trade in umbrellas made from the 

 leaves. Long pieces of the pith are tied in hundles, Tale chehkiy K., and 

 carried from the forests near Gairsoppah and Honavar. A kind of brown 

 flour or sago is extracted from the pieces. The Talipot palms of N. 

 Kanara are fewer than in former years owing to the restrictions about 

 felling not being stringent enough. Two thousand trees are annually cut 

 for the wants of the Kunbis residing in the Southern Coast sub-divisions 

 of N. Kanara. 



9. BORASSUS, Linn. 



Lofty, simple-stemmed palms. Leaves palmately £an-shapped; 

 petiole spinously serrate. Spathes several, incomplete. Spadix with 

 a few branches. Flowers dioicous, bracts large, sheathing, coriaceous 

 Male fl. in cylindrical catkins. Calyx and corolla 3-divided. 

 Stamens 6. Female fl. solitary within the scales of the catkin. Calyx 

 of 3 sepals. Petals 6, imbricate. Starainodes 6-9, connate in a ring 

 round the ovary. Ovary usually 3-celled; stigmas sessile. Drupe 

 large, containing 2-4, obcordate, fibrous, pyrenes. Albumen horny, 

 turning hollow ; embryo sub-apical. 



B. flabelifer, Linn. ; B. flabelliformis, Roxb. FL Ind. III. 790 ; Bran- 

 dis For. Fl. 544 ; Dalz. & Gibs. Bomb. Fl, 278. Palmyra Tree. Tad^ 

 tamar, M. 



Cultivated throughout the plains of India, Barma and Ceylon. 



