Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIII.djvu/28

 18 PALM bud, consisting of closely packed, undeveloped leaves, is used as a table vegetable, and is re- garded as a delicacy ; in order to obtain this, a noble tree over 100 ft. high is sacrificed; the terminal bud in many other species is used in the same manner. The young unexpanded riower spikes of species of chamcedorea are used as a vegetable in Mexico, and the natives of New Zealand make a similar use of those of Kentia sapida, both of this tribe, and the last named interesting as being found further south than any other palm, in lat. 38 22'. Several species of the South American genus cenocarpus have fruits with an oily flesh, arid the oil ob- tained from them is used for cooking and for Toddy Palm (Caryota urens). lamps ; it is said to be mixed in Para with olive oil as an adulteration ; the stiff nerves of the leaves of these palms furnish the Indians with arrows for their blow-guns, which are made by boring the leaf stalks of other palms of this tribe. The East Indian genus caryota, which includes lofty trees of great beauty, furnishes various useful products ; palm wine and sugar are obtained from the flower spikes, the trunks yield a good sago, and the leaves furnish a fibre of great strength called Mttul, used for making ropes and mats. The species of this genus are favorites in cultivation, as this is one of the few with bi-pinnate leaves. When the tree has completed its growth, the flowers are pro- duced in drooping tassels ; a flower cluster is produced at the base of the uppermost leaf, then one appears at the next lower leaf, and so on until the lowermost leaf has produced a cluster from its base, when the plant dies. The wax palm of Colombia, ceroxylon andico- la, is a lofty tree growing in elevated regions ; it is remarkable for its swollen trunk, which is larger in the middle than it is above or be- low, and is covered with a whitish wax-like substance, which is collected by felling the tree and scraping ; the product of each trunk is about 25 Ibs. ; it consists of a resin and a wax, and, though too inflammable to be used by itself, it makes good candles when mixed with tallow. 2. The calamus tribe (calamece) consists of sarmentose or runner-like plants and some trees ; the pinnate or fan-like leaves are often ter- minated by a long ap- pendage which is fur- nished with hooks; the spathe is usual- ly several-leaved, and the fruit a berry cov- ered with overlapping scales. The principal genus is calamus, of which more than 80 species are described, all natives of Asia, es- pecially the Malayan peninsula, save one in Africa and two in Australia. They are known as rattan and cane palms, the stems of several being found in commerce under these names. Some are low bushes, while others, with stems seldom over an inch thick, climb to a great distance over trees, to which they cling by means of the hooked spines upon their leaf stalks. Some remark- able stories have been told of the great length of these stems; Rumphius's statement that they grow from 1,200 to 1,800 ft. long has not been verified, though it is not rare to find them 300 ft. long. Their leaves are mostly pinnate, with the leaf stalk prolonged into a long whip-like tail ; the rose-colored or green- ish flowers are in long branching spikes, and the fruit consists of a single seed, surrounded by an edible pulp, which is enclosed by a cov- ering of shiny scales. The stems of these palms are used in their native countries for numerous purposes ; they make ropes of great length and strength, used in catching elephants and as ca- bles for vessels ; in the Himalaya the stems are used for building suspension bridges. The rat- tans of commerce are afforded by calamus ro- tang, C. verus, 0. rudentum, and others; they are cut 12 or 16 ft. in length, once doubled, and made into bundles of 100 each ; immense num- Rattan Palm (Calamus rotang).