Areca eatechu is the betel-nut palm, the fruit is much used in India. Be sides being used as a masticatory and medicine in cases of dysentery, the sub stance is employed in tanning leather and in dyeing calico. But the true cab bage palm is A. oleracea, indigenous to the West Indies, attaining the height of 170 to 200 feet, with a diameter of stem of about 7 feet. The terminal bud or "cabbage" has the flavor of the almond, but with greater sweetness, and is boiled and eaten with meat. Its removal causes the death of the tree. The in florescence is extracted from the spathes before they open, are pickled, and es teemed a delicate relish with meat. The nuts yield a useful oil by decoction. The shell or outer hard crust of the stein is employed in making gutters, and the pith yields a kind of sago if extracted im mediately the tree is felled.
Ceroxlyon (Iriartia) andicola, a na tive of Peru, growing at an elevation of 8,000-10,000 feet above sea-level, is a handsome species rising to the height of 160 or more feet. The stem exudes from the annular cicatrices of the fallen leaves a resinous substance called by the in habitants sera de palma. It is em ployed in candle making. Besides the resinous exudation the trunk yields a valuable and durable timber, the leaves are excellent and durable material for thatch, and they supply a strong, useful fiber for the manufacture of ropes and cordage. The kiziuba palm (C. exor rhiza) is a native of Central and South America. The timber is used in floor ing and for making umbrella sticks, mu sical instruments, etc. Blowpipes for poisoned arrows are made from the stems of C. setigera (see BLOWPIPE) .
The sugar palm (Arenga saccharifera) is a native of the Moluccas, Cochin China, and the Indian Archipelago. It yields an abundant sweet sap, from which a chocolate-colored sugar named jaggery is made. The sap fermented makes an intoxicating drink variously named by the inhabitants of the differ ent countries neroo or brum. From the pith of the stem sago is obtained in great quantity, a single stem yielding as much as from 150 to 200 pounds. The leaves supply Gomuto fiber, which is cel ebrated for its great strength and dura bility when formed into cordage and ropes, and at the base of the leaves a fine woolly material, named barn is em ployed in caulking ships, stuffing cush ions, and making tinder.
Caryota sirens, one of the noblest palms of India, yields some remarkable products. From the terminal bud a sweet watery liquor is obtained. The terminal bud is also eaten as a cabbage. From the pith of the stem sago is ob tained, which is made into bread, and prepared in various other ways, and is a valuable article of food to the natives.
The genus Calamus and its immediate allies are regarded as forming a con necting link between the palms and the grasses. Certain species—viz. C. Rox
burghii, C. Royleanus furnish the rat tan canes employed in making ropes and cables, chair bottoms, couches, baskets, mats, etc. The walking sticks known as Malacca canes are made from the stems of C. scipionum, a species which grows not in Malacca, but in Sumatra. The stems of the great rattan (C. ru. dentium) and others are of prodigious length with a dense siliceous crust on the surface. C. draco furnishes the fin est quality of the resinous substance known as "dragon's blood." Zalacca cdulis is regularly cultivated by the Bur mese for the sake of its pleasantly acid ulous fruit. Raphia vinif era, a native of Guinea, yields a rather abundant sap, from which a strongly spirituous wine is obtained. One of the most beautiful and singular of palms is R. twdegera, an inhabitant of the banks of the Ama zon. The trunk of the tree is short, from 6 to 10 feet high, but from the summit the leaves rise almost perpendicularly to the height of 40 feet or more. The foot stalk of these enormous leaves are often 12 or 15 feet long by 4 or 5 inches in diameter. The integument being easily split into straight strips, is made into window-blinds, baskets, etc., by the In dians.
The true "sago" of commerce (see SAGO) is derived from various species of the genus Sagus. The tree is small, rarely exceeding 30 feet in height of stem, which consists of a hard shell about 2 inches thick inclosing a mass of spongy pith—the sago. When felled the stem is cut into lengths of 6 or 7 feet, which are split, the better to remove the pith. Washing and straining are the principal features of every process. A single tree, it is said, will yield from 500 to 600 pounds of sago. The Bache (Mauritia flexuosa), a native of Guiana, furnishes timber for building dwellings, the leaves thatch for the same, and ma terial for mats, couches, hammocks, etc.; the pith yields sago; the juice by fermen tation gives an excellent beverage; the kernels of the fruits are ground into meal and made into bread; and the fiber is converted into cordage and clothing. The Palmyra palm (Borassus flabelli formis) is one of the most common of its tribe in India. It furnishes the greater part of the palm wine of India. A tree yields about three quarts daily. The liquor is drunk fresh, and will only keep sweet for about three days, when it undergoes fermentation and becomes sour, and is distilled into arrack. Jag gery is also made from the juice. The young plants when a few inches high are cooked and eaten as a vegetable. In India the leaves are almost universally used for writing upon with an iron sty lus.