PALM-TREE WOODS is a commercial name in Britain given to the stems or trunks of palms froni the East and West Indies, and' imported to nail extent for fancy use. The palate furnish k, brown, prickly brown, and speckled woods, ncipally from the Areca eatechu, Bet etissue l belliformis, species of Calamus, Cocos nucifera, and species of Corypha, which are largely used in India. In structure, the wood of the palms appears formed of a series of hard, stiff, fongi tudinal fibres not interlaced or twisted, but crossed at considerable intervals at various angles by similar fibres. The palm woods are sparingly employed in England for cabinet and marquetry work, sometimes for billiard cues, which are con sidered to stand remarkably well, and they are also turned into snuff-boxes, etc. The smaller kinds are imported under the names of partridge canes (called also Chinese or fishing canes), Penang canes, from the island of that name, together with some other small palms which arc used for walking sticks, the roots serving to form the knobs or handles. The knobs exhibit irregular dots, some thing like the scales of snakes; these arise from the small roots proceeding . from the principal stem ; which latter shows dotted fibres at each end of the stick, and streaks along the side of the same. Twisted palm sticks are the central stems or mid-ribs of the date-palm ; they arc twisted when green, and stretched with heavy weights until they are thoroughly dry. They are imported from the Neapolitan coast, but are considered to be produced in Egypt. The shells of the cocoanut and coquilla-nut, and the kernels of the areca or betel-nut, and those of the corosos or ivory-nut,• have likewise their uses in British workshops. The varieties of the several hundred species im ported into Great Britain from the East and West Indies are known there by the names, palm, pal metto, palmyra, nutmeg, leopard, and porcupine woods, etc., from their fancied resemblances ; for when they are cut horizontally, they exhibit dots like the spice, and when obliquely, the markings assimilate to the quills of the porcupine. The trunks of the palms are invariably soft and spongy in the centre, but are gradually harder towards the outside. They do not possess the medullary
rays of the proper woods, but only the vertical fibres, which are held together by a much softer substance, like pith or cement, so that the hori zontal section is always dotted, by which they may be readily distinguished from all true woods. The colours and hardness of the two parts differ very materially. Areca catechu, the betel-nut palm, is remarkably straight; it grows to the height of about 30 feet, and rarely exceeds 4 or 5 in cumference. The general colour of its wood is a light yellow brown, the fibres are large, bard, and only a few shades darker than the cementitious portions. Cocos nucifera, the cocoanut palm, sometimes grows to 90 feet in height and 3 feet in diameter, but is generally less. The upper part of its trunk is soft and stringy, but the lower supplies a useful wood, the fibres of which arc of chesnut brown, and several shades darker than the intermediate substance. The wood is employed for joists, troughs for water, and many purposes of general carpentry. The wood of Caryota wens is much darker than either of the preceding, the fibres are nearly black and quite straight, and the cement is of a dark-brown; but in either varieties with these black fibres, the softer part is very light coloured, and so friable that. it may bo picked out with the fingers. Palmyra wood, Romanis flabelliformls, is largely used in Ceylon and the Peninsula of India for the construc tion of roofs, the joists of which consist of two slabs, the third or fourth part of the tree, bolted together by their flat sides so as to constitute elliptical rafters. For flat roofs they are covered first with flat tiles, and then with a white con crete called chunam, consisting of shell -lime, yolks of eggs, and jagari (sugar), beaten to gether with water in which the husks of COCOft• nuts have been steeped.
The Picly pole, the Cocos 0 uineensis of Jamaica, etc., a palm growing 40 feet high, and of small diameter. Its wood is said to be very elastic, and fit for bows and rainniers.—Simnionds; gold. See Palmyra and Porcupine Wood.