BORASSUS. 
a little puzzled to know how the occupancy of a 
| and by the English Palmyra tree. 
| cies, designated the fan-leaved, Borassus flabelli- 
field with borage throughout a season, or even in 
lieu of summer fallow, could comport with either 
good husbandry or true economy. 
The long-leaved borage, B. longifolia, is a re- 
cently introduced hardy ornamental annual, of a 
foot in height, from the south of Europe.—The 
loose-flowered borage, B. laxiflora, is a hardy, 
trailing, ornamental biennial, of a foot in height, 
from Corsica.—The oriental borage, B. orientalis, 
is a beautiful hardy herbaceous perennial from 
Turkey, two feet in height, and producing hand- 
some blue flowers from March till May.—The 
Cretan and the thick-leaved species are also per- 
ennials ; and the latter was introduced a few 
years ago from Persia, grows to the height of 
two feet, and produces pink flowers in June and 
July. —Miller, Mawe, Mill, Loudon, Smith, John- 
son. 
BORASSUS. A beautiful and most valuable 
oriental tree of the palm tribe. Itis called by the 
Hindoos Vala; by the Portuguese, Palmeira brava; 
Only one spe- 
forms, is known with certainty to botanists; but 
several varieties, and possibly several species, 
have been described under this name. It abounds 
in most parts of both insular and continental 
India, and possesses very high economical value 
wherever it grows ; yet it appears to be circum- 
scribed by capricious limits, and is scarcely or 
not at all to be found in some places where it 
might be supposed to be both abundant and lux- 
uriant. Its stem has a height of from 20 to 40 
feet, and is perceptibly thicker at the base than 
at the summit; its leaves are fan-shaped, each 
about four feet long, situated on a spiry leaf-stalk 
of about the same length, and divided into 70 or 
80 ragged rays; and its fruit is somewhat trian- 
gular, is as large as a child’s head, has a thick, 
fibrous, brownish, and somewhat succulent rind, 
and contains three seeds, each about the size of 
@ goose-ege, 
“This magnificent palm,” says Sir William 
Jones, “is justly considered the king of its order, 
which the Hindus call Trina druma, or grass- 
trees. Van Rheede mentions the bluish, gela- 
tinous, pellucid substance of the young seeds, 
which in the hot season is cooling and rather 
agreeable to the taste; but the liquor extracted 
from the tree is the most seducing and pernicious 
of intoxicating juices. When just drawn, it is 
as pleasant as Pouhon water fresh from the spring, 
and almost equal to the best mild champagne. 
From this liquor, according to Rheede, sugar is 
extracted; and it would be happy for these pro- 
vinces, if it were always applied to so innocent a 
purpose.” Yet in spite of this wicked abuse of 
its sap, the borassus is as important to the in- 
habitants of some tropical districts as the cocoa- 
nut tree is to those of others. For example, 
forests of the borassus and very few trees of 
Cocos nucifera occur in the north of Ceylon, while 
BORATES. 437 
forests of Cocos nucifera and very few trees of the 
borassus occur in the south of that island ; and 
the northern Cingalese depend, for a considerable 
portion of their food and of the articles which 
they export, upon the borassus, while the south- 
ern Cingalese depend, for just the same things, 
upon the cocoa-nut tree. 
The toddy or intoxicating juice of the borassus, 
when temperately used, is said to be cooling and 
aperient, and is frequently prescribed in cases 
where a gentle stimulant is required. When the 
fruit is half grown, it contains a fresh-tasted 
gelatinous pulp, which is cooling and rather 
agreeable, and is called Noonghoo by the Tamuls; 
but when the fruit ripens, the pulp changes into 
a hard, bluish, albuminous substance which is 
insipid and inedible. The young plants, when 
but a few inches high, are used as pot vegetables 
by both the Hindoos and the Cingalese ; in some 
districts, they are dried, and pounded into a sort 
of meal; and in most, they are boiled, and eaten 
with a little of the kernel of the cocoa-nut. The 
leaves of the full-grown trees are used by the 
Hindoos for house-thatch, fans, baskets, hats, 
mats, umbrellas, buckets, temporary huts, and a 
substitute for writing-paper ; and when employed 
for the last of these purposes, they are written 
upon with an instrument of steel. The outer 
wood is brown, very hard, capable of longitudinal 
division, and susceptible of a fine polish; and it 
is frequently employed for making bows. The 
wood of a particular variety, usually procured in 
other parts of India from Jaffnapatam, is hard, 
close-grained, and dark-coloured, and is consi- 
dered a valuabie timber for house-building and 
other purposes. All the sugar used by the Cin- 
galese is made from Dorassus flabelliformis, Cocos 
nucifera, and Caryota wrens. The borassus was 
first introduced to the palm-houses of Great Bri- 
tain in 1771.—WMateria Medica of Hindostan.— 
Extracts in Gardener's Magazine-—Sir W. Jones’ 
Plants of India —Loudon’s Hortus Britannicus, 
BORATES. Chemical combinations of boracic 
acid and alkaline bases. The chief of these for 
all economical purposes, and also for all chemical 
associations with boron, is the biborate of soda, 
popularly called borax. Boracic acid may be 
prepared from borax; and boron is usually ob- 
tained from boracic acid. 
Boron, so far as chemistry has yet been able to 
determine, is a simple or elementary body. It is 
dark, olive-coloured, tasteless, odourless, insolu- 
ble in water, ether, alcohol, or oils, about twice 
the weight of water, and capable of bearing an 
intense heat in a close vessel without undergoing 
fusion; and it is separated from the oxygen of 
boracic acid, and obtained in a separate state, by 
driving the oxygen into combination with potas- 
sium by means of heat. 
Boracic acid is the only known compound of 
boron and oxygen; it exists naturally in the hot 
springs of Lipari, Volterra, and Sasso; it is a | 
constituent of boracite, datolite, and some other 
ee 
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