the variety, or if neglected, at 15 years, when otherwise it 
should be at full bearing ; it lives to 100 years, but is 
sterile probably over the last 30-40, The sago palm, so to 
speak, lives for ever, but its trunks last only 15 years. 
The flowers of all palms are small and inconspicuous ; 
for the most part they are insect-fertilised, and that quite 
efficiently. The family clings with marked persistency to 
the production of three ovules, and the maturing of one 
seed. Most species flower over a long period ; but the 
Coryphas flower once only in their lifetime of 30-40 years 
and die after seed-production : this flowering lasts 3-4 
weeks. Palms, in their fruits, exhibit great variety. The 
fruit-wall is fleshy in the Date, oily in the Elaeis, fibrous 
in the Coconut and in a great many other palms ; in the 
Arengas it is so full of irritant crystals as to be poisonous. 
The seed is oily in the Coconut, in Elaeis and Attalp, 
In many species it is edible ; that of Borassus is eaten like 
the coconut ; that of Arenga, before maturity, is boiled in 
syrup and made into a sweetmeat ; that of Zalacca is a 
favourite food among the Malays, Again, it is sometimes 
exceedingly hard, as in Phytelephas, the Vegetable ivory, 
and is turned into buttons, etc. 
It forms a spice in Areca Catechu, the Betel palm ; 
and substitutes for betel are got from other species of Areca, 
from Pinanga, Actinorhytis, Didymophloeus, Gonophyllum, 
Oncosperma and Calyptrocalyx. The Malays use the 
seeds of Actinorhytis calapparia as a medicine, 
A little edible pulp surrounds the seeds of some 
rattans ; and in others there is an exudation from the seed- 
coat, which, drying into a powder, rich in tannin, makes 
dragon's blood," 
Palms are essentially tropical plants, or if they extend 
beyond the Tropics they do so in about the same measure 
