N. O. PALMRA2. 
1317 
much ramified panicle, the branches in the axils of coriaceous 
sheaths narrowed into a lanceolate blade. Calyx and petals 
thinly membranous. Stamens 6, sometimes Oin. in the male 
flower. Stamens in the male flower inserted in the corolla- 
tube in the hermaphrodite flower in its throat ; anthers deeply 
sagittate. Ovary 3-celled, narrowed into a style. Drupe 
globose, ellipsoid or oblong. (Beccari and Hooker). 1-seeded, 
globose, fin. diam. 
Uses : —The delicate young leaves are given in diarrhoea and 
dysentery. They are also purgative ; chiefly used in veterinary 
medicine. (Bellew.) 
1302. Borassus flabellifor, Linn., h.f.b.i., vi. 
482 ; Roxb. 724. 
Sans. : — Tdla. 
Vrrn. : — Tdl, tar, fH.) ; Tal (B.) ; Tale (Santal) ; Tad, Oral 
(Guz.); tada, talat-mild (Mar.); Potu-tati, tati-chettu (Tel.); 
Panaimaram panam, pampai (Tam.); Panft (Mai.); Tall, tale 
pane-mare (Kan.) 
Habitat : — Cultivated throughout Tropical Tndia, Bengal 
and southern part of the United Provinces. 
Trunk attains 100ft. high and 2ft. in diam. near the ground, 
with a dense mass of long rootlets, often swollen above the 
middle, when young covered with dry leaves or the bases of 
petioles, when old marked with the black narrow scars of the 
latter. Leaves 3-5ft. in diam. ; segments 60-80, shining, folded 
along the midrib, linear-lanceolate ; petioles 2-4ft. long, 
semiterete, the margins with hard spinescent serratures. Flowers 
dioecious. Spadix very large, simply branched, sheathed with 
numerous open spathes. Male flowers small ; spikes 1-3 at the 
ends of the branches, cylindric, densely clothed with imbricating 
bracts ; numerous minute secund spikelets concealed by the 
bracts so as to appear immersed in the spike, the flowers coming 
to the surface one by one as they successively open. Stamens 6 ; 
filaments connate with the corolla into a stalk. Female flowers 
larger, globose, lin. in diam. ; perianth fleshy, greatly accrescent. 
Sepals imbricate. Petals smaller, convolute. Staminodes 6-9. 
