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ON VEGETABLE IVORY PALM. 
ART. LXXXII. — SOME ACCOUNT OF THE VEGETABLE IVORY 
PALM. {Phyielephas macrocarpa.) 
By Sir VV. J. Hooker. 
[The following interesting notice, taken from the Phar- 
maceutical Journal for February, has been considerably 
abridged, those portions of a purely botanical interest being 
left out, together with two wood-cuts illustrative of the plant 
and its products. — Editor.] 
It is not for the first time we here make the observation 
that the vegetable products, best known in commerce, in the 
arts, &c, are frequently the least known botanically. A 
striking example in proof of this statement may be found in 
the fact, that familiar as every one is with the substance 
called Vegatable Ivory, Dr. Von Martius is obliged to bring 
to a conclusion his Opus Magnificum on the Palms, without 
being able to figure, or even to describe from the life or from 
well-dried specimens, the species which yields this singular 
substance. The very last genus noticed in the work just 
mentioned, is Phytelephas, and the author concludes his ac- 
count of it with the remark: " Descriptio ex iconibus Gaudi- 
chaudianis et exemplari manco ;" and these figures of Gaudi- 
chaud ( Voyage de la Bonite) only exhibit the fructification, 
unaccompanied by any history or explanation. 
We are far from expecting to fill up all that is wanting to 
the history of the Vegetable Ivory, our living plants are but 
young, and our own specimens, how superior soever they 
may be to those possessed by other botanical cabinets, are 
far indeed from being complete ; for it is well known how 
difficult it is to procure available specimens for illustration 
of these " Princes" of the vegetable kingdom. The Royal 
Gardens, however, when sending out a collector to New 
Granada in 1845, did not fail to direct his attention to the 
