Pahnae. 37 
three and a half inches in diameter, and are covered with a reddish 
brown, glossy, scaly shell, which fact places the palm into the tribe 
Lepidocarineae. The nuts are of ivory-like texture ; the surface of 
the seed is black and shiny, striped but not furrowed. It is a native 
of the Caroline Islands and according to Brother Mathias Newell of 
Hilo, to whom the writer is indebted for the following information, a 
few of these palms were brought to Hilo by Dr. Wetmore, from 
Micronesia about thirty years ago. One of these he planted on his 
premises where it still stands, but it has not borne fruit as yet. 
Another was given to Miss Ellen Lyman who planted it. This 
specimen bore abundant fruit, but was cut down to make room for 
a building. Mr. Scott of Hilo bought about twelve nuts of this 
species from a sea-captain who came from the South Seas in 1886. 
Only three of these seeds germinated and but one survived. This 
latter, here illustrated, is now a magnificent specimen and bears 
fruit in abundance. 
The nut yields the commercial vegetable ivory and was formerly 
exported from the Caroline Islands to Germany for button making. 
There are no specimens of this palm in Honolulu. 
Caryota urens Linn. 
Wine Palm, Fish-tail Palm. 
Plate XVI. 
Caryota urens L. is the oldest and best known species of the 
genus Caryota. It is a lofty palm with a trunk of often forty feet 
in height and a foot in diameter. The leaves are very large, often 
measuring eighteen to twenty feet in length and from ten to twelve 
across. It is one of the few palms with twice pinnate leaves ; the 
leaflets terminate abruptly somewhat resembling the dorsal fin of 
a fish, whence the name Fish-tail Palm. When it has attained its 
full height it begins to flower near the apex of the trunk, the flowers 
being arranged on long hanging racemes, which are produced in 
downward succession till the palm dies. The reddish fruits are 
globose and fleshy, the seeds are reniform and the sour juice contained 
in the fruit produces an irritation of the skin whence the specific 
name urens meaning stinging. 
It is a native of Malabar, Bengal, Assam and various other 
parts of India where it grows in moist forests. To the natives of 
India this palm is highly valuable on account of the large quantity 
of toddy or palm wine which it yields, and Dr. Roxburgh states that 
the best trees will yield at the rate of a hundred pints in twenty-four 
