270 



CASSELL'S POPULAR GARDENING. 



the " Talipat Palm" never flowers until near its 

 end. These plants are very slow in growing, and 

 therefore not amateurs' Palms, but on account of 

 their gigantic size, and their associations, they de- 

 serve a passing notice. 



C. Gebanga — called " Ge- 

 bang " by the natives — is 

 a plant with a tall, stout 

 stem; the large fan-shaped 

 leaves are of a glaucous- 

 green, the segments split 

 about half-way down. The 

 leaves of this plant are 

 invaluable to the Java- 

 nese for making hats, 

 baskets, thatching their 

 huts, and they procure a 

 rough quality of sago 

 from its stem. Java. 



C. Taliera — stem twenty to 

 thirty feet high, bearing 

 large fan-shaped, dark 



green leaves. It is a 

 common plant in India, 

 and its leaves are used 

 for similar purposes to 

 the " Gebang." 

 C. umbraculifera— this is 

 the famous " Talipat 

 Palm" of the Cingalese; 

 it has a stout cylindrical 

 stem, some seventy or 

 eighty feet high. The 

 leaves are made into fans 

 and carried before people 

 of rank ; they are also 

 used for books, and the 

 manufacture of many 

 other useful articles. 



Desmoneus. — A small family, which in their 

 scandent habit resemble the Calamus of the Eastern 

 Hemisphere ; the petioles are prolonged into long 

 slender tails, armed with numerous recurved spines ; 

 the flowers are produced in simple branched spikes ; 

 the male and female organs in separate flowers; the 

 male flowers are all on the top, and the females on 

 the lower portion of the branches ; the fruit is small, 

 hard, one-seeded, and almost round. Very orna- 

 mental when young. They lose their lower leaves 

 and much of their beauty when they begin to climb, 

 and can then be thrown away. The name comes from 

 dcsmos, " a bond"; ogkos, "a hook," in allusion to the 

 peculiar spiny tail-like extension of the leaf-stalk. 



der, similar in appearance 

 to the preceding ; leaflets 

 very deep green ; the pe- 

 tioles armed with long 

 black spines. Chiapas. 

 D, polyacanthos — stem slen- 

 der and very spiny : leaf- 

 lets oblong, tapering at 

 both ends, bright green ; 

 whole plant armed with 

 long spines. Brazil. 



D. macranthus — the native 

 name of this Palm is Ja- 

 citara ; " its stems climb, or 

 trail, along to the length 

 of about fifty or sixty feet, 

 and they seldom exceed 

 the thickness of a man's 

 thumb ; leaves pinnate, 

 one to two feet long; 

 leaflets broad and bright 

 green. Rio Negro. 



D. Mexicanus— stems slen- 



Elais. — This genus includes the Oil-Palm of 



Western Africa, the produce of which forms the 

 principal ingredient in the making of Price's patent 

 candles ; it is also familiar to most home travellers, 

 in the shape of the yellow fat used for the lubrica- 

 tion of the axles of railway carriage wheels ; it is 

 largely used, too, for soap-making. The natives who 

 obtain this oil by collecting the fruits and boiling 

 them in water, until the oil rises to the surface, 

 use it in large quantities, eating it as butter. They 

 also use it for oiling their bodies, partly to keep 

 away insects, and partly as a substitute for clothing, 

 of which they are entirely destitute. 



A very pleasant wine is also obtained from this 

 plant, and the fibres of the leaf-stalk are used for 



brooms, basket-making, &c. ; and after the seeds are 

 crushed, and all the oil extracted, the refuse is 

 made into oil-cake, now so largely used for cattle- 

 feeding. Another species, E. melanococca, is found 

 in tropical America ; it, however, is not so hand- 

 some a plant, neither has it yet been found of so 

 much commercial value. 



E. Guineensis (the Oil- Palm). — This, in a young 

 state, is a very handsome plant, and its constitution 

 is very robust, so that it may be used for all decora- 

 tive purposes ; it attains a height of from twenty to 

 thirty feet, bearing a large head of feathery pin- 

 nate, dark green leaves, which are ten to fifteen 

 feet in length. Abundant and general in Western 

 Africa. 



Euterpe. — A genus containing but few species, 

 but all are handsome and useful for decorative pur- 

 poses, even in a young state. As a genus, they are 

 distinguished by their branched flower-spikes, which 

 stand at right angles to the stem, just below the 

 sheathing bases of the leaves ; the male and female 

 flowers are distinct, but on the same plant ; on the 

 lower part of the "branches the males and females 

 are in pairs, the topmost parts bearing mostly male 

 flowers only. There would appear to be several very 

 elegant plants of this family yet to be introduced 

 to our stoves, for Spruce says : " Two very pretty 

 Euterpcs (a large one known as Chotcta, and a smaller 

 one as Choutilla) grow at the head of the valleys in 

 the Peruvian Andes, at from 3—6,000 feet; and at 

 about the same elevation there is a Choutilla so 

 slender that walking- canes are made of it, and its 

 habit is almost that of Geonoma, but the leaves, the 

 edible Cabbage, and the fruit are all Euterpe"'' 



E. montana is a more dwarf 

 plant than E. oleracea, 

 its stem seldom exceed- 

 ing about twenty feet in 

 height, and this is very 

 much swollen at the 

 base. The crown of young 

 leaves is cut out (like 

 E. oleracea) and eaten as 

 Cabbage. West Indies. 



E. oleracea (the Cabbage 

 Palm) — when young tbis 

 plant produces elegant 

 pinnate leaves, with bright 

 green pendent leaflets ; 

 very hardy and very use- 

 ful as a decorative plant ; 

 when mature, however, it 

 forms a slender erect 

 stem, from ten to 120 

 feet high, its large plume- 



like leaves forming a 

 graceful head ; the young 

 heart leaves are cut out 

 and eaten, and having 

 much the flavour of our 

 Cabbage, this has given 

 rise to its popular name. 

 From the fruits a drink 

 is made of a very sweet 

 flavour, and it is said to 

 be a favourite beverage 

 with the dwellers on the 

 Amazon. This drink is 

 called "assai," from which 

 it is often called the 

 Assai-Palm, and it is fre- 

 quently found in our 

 plant-houses under the 

 name of E. edulis. Widely 

 distributed on the Ama- 

 zon and Bio Negro. 



Geonoma. — This genus is nearly allied to 

 Chamcedorea, and contains a great number of species. 

 Spruce enumerates nearly half a hundred species as 

 found by him on the Amazon and its tributaries. 

 They love shade, being always found in dense 

 forests, where they form a large portion of the 



