140 



DOMESTIC BOTANY. 



Although such is the case, they are nevertheless, with 

 the exception of the climbing species, of slow growth. 

 For many years they are stemless, their leaves being suc- 

 cessively developed from a surface or underground en- 

 larging axis, which in some species progresses like a 

 rhizome to a foot or more in length. It continues to 

 increase in size till it attains the normal diameter of the 

 forthcoming stem. While this is being accomplished 

 the leaves acquire a succulent development, ultimately 

 becoming spirally ascending. The axis then progresses 

 upwards, and in time becomes a palm tree stem, differing 

 in girth and rate of growth according to kind. 



From more than forty years' observation and other 

 data, I feel warranted in saying that a period of from 

 thirty to fifty years or more elapses before the stems of 

 many palms commence their upward growth, this period 

 having been passed in what may be called their infancy, 

 or age of preparation. 



*Fan-leaved Palms. 



Palmyra Palm (^Borassus Jlahelliformis). A native of 

 Ceylon, India, and generally throughout Central Africa. It 

 has large fan-shaped leaves, and a cylindrical stem rising to 

 the height of 50 to 100 feet. Nearly 10,000 different uses 

 are ascribed to it by the natives. It is one of the wine or 

 *' toddy" yielding palms of India, and jaggary sugar is 

 obtained from it in large quantities. The fruit is in bunches, 

 each fruit being about 3 inches in diameter, and its pulpy 

 covering is made into a kind of jelly. The young sprouts 

 of the nuts are brought to the markets, and used in the same 

 manner as asparagus. 



Tl3i\v^ot V2Llm(^Cory pha umhraculif era). This noble palm is 

 a native of Ceylon, and attains a height equal to the last. Its 

 large fan-shaped leaves are borne on prickly footstalks, and 

 like those of the " Palmyra Palm," are carried over people 



