Ort>eii nr. 
DIGECIA TIIIANDRIA. 
8-29 
13823 Culm and branches round smooth 
13824 Culm simple leafless, Spikes racemose somewhat l-sided roundish triquetrous cernuous with bracteae 
13825 Culm dichotomous leafy, Branches compressed. Spikes panicled pendulous 
13826 Culm dichotomous leafy decumbent. Branches round. Spikes solitary and alternate 
13827 Culm dichotomous leafy, Branches compressed, Spikes sessile alternate erect 
13828 Culm simple leafless. Spikes alternate erect, Scales acuminate 
13829 Culm simple nearly naked, Spathes very large ovate nearly acute. Spikes clustered thyrsoid 
13830 Culm channelled, Spathes large ovate obtuse, Spikes racemose 
13831 Fronds pinnated unarmed. Leaflets folded together linear-lanceolate straight 
13832 Fronds pinnated unarmed. Leaflets folded together linear-lanceolate loosely spreading 
13833 Fronds pinnated unarmed. Leaflets linear-subulate folded together, Flowers hexandrous 
13834 PinUcE linear-ensiform folded together : lower spiny 
13835 Flowers triandrous 
13836 Flowers diandrous 
13837 The only species 
TETRANDRIA. 
13838 Leaves filiform channelled 
13839 Leaves flat spatulate-linear 
and Miscellaneous Particulars. 
boughs make ropes and the rigging of smaller vessels. The juice of the date tree is procured by cutting ofl[ 
the head or crown of the more vigorous plant, and scooping the top of the trunk into the shape of a basin ; 
where the sap in ascending lodges itself, at the rate of three or four quarts a day, during the first week or 
fortnight; after which, the quantity daily diminishes, and at the end of six weeks or two months the tree 
becomes dry, and serves for timber or firewood. This liquor, which has a more luscious sweetness than honey, 
is of the consistence of a thin syrup, but quickly becomes tart and ropy, acquiring an intoxicating quality, and 
giving upon distillation an agreeable spirit or araky, which is the general name in the East for all hot liquors 
extracted by the alembick. 
P. farinifera produces black drupes of the size of a large kidney bean ; these the natives of Coromandel eat 
as gathered from the bush without any preparation. The leaflets are wrought into mats ; the common petioles 
are split into three or four, and used for making ordinary baskets of various kinds ; but they are not so proper 
for this purpose as the bamboo. The small trunk, when divested of its leaves, and the strong brown fibrous 
web that surrounds the trunk at their insertions, is generally fifteen or eighteen inches long, and six in diameter 
at the thickest part ; its exterior or woody part consists of white fibres matted together, which envelope a 
large quantity of farinaceous substance, used as food by the natives in times of scarcity ; but to separate this 
from the fibres, the trunk is split into six or eight pieces, then dried, beaten in wooden mortars, and afterwards 
sifted : the rest of the preparation consists in boiling the meal into a thick gruel, or, as it is called in India, 
congee. It seems to be much less nutritive than sago, and is less palatable. 
20.50. Stilago. Perhaps so called from the length of the style ; but the name is unexplained by its author. 
S. diandra produces an eatable fruit used by the natives, but not esteemed by Europeans. The species thrive 
in sandy loam, and cuttings root in sand under a hand-glass. 
2051. Osyris. The Greek name of a tree with long supple branches, which were used for brushes and similar 
purposes. The modern shrub has also slender flexible branches, of which packing materials are formed 
throughout the south of Europe. 
2052. Aulax. From avXa.^, a furrow ; in allusion, we presume, to the furrows on the under-side of the leaves 
of the original species. Neat shrubs with narrow leaves ; nearly allied to Protea. This, Sweet observes, is " a 
pretty genus belonging to the Proteacefe, wliich thrives best in a very sandy loam, with a great many potsherds 
broken small at the bottom of the pot, to let the water drain off freely, as they frequently get too much water, 
which makes the mould sodden, and stagnates their growth. Ripened cuttings, taken off at a joint, and planted 
in a pot of sand, will strike root, if placed under a hand-glass in the propagating house, and the glass to be oc- 
casionally left off, an hour or two at a time, to give them air, and keep them from damping ; which should be 
done in a morning before the sun has much power, or it will make them flag and injure them. Plants are readily 
raised from seeds, which should be sown in a mixture of two-thirds loam and one-third sand : as soon as they 
come up, they should be planted off in smaU pots, in the same kind of soil, as they are very apt to die, if left 
too long in the seed-pot." {Bot. CulU 143.) 
