Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIII.djvu/31

 PALM 21 fans used by the Cingalese as emblems of rank ; they are put to many other of the uses of palm leaves, including the making of paper. The trunk yields sago. The tura palm of Bengal (C. taliera) and the gebang palm of Java (C. gebanga) are both useful in various ways. The wax palm of Brazil, Copernicia cerifera, bears upon its young leaves a coating 01 wax ; this is collected by shaking the leaves, melted, and run into moulds; it is harder than beeswax, but no method of depriving it of its yellow color having been discovered, its use in candle making is limited. A kind of cane was known in commerce as Penang lawyers a long time before its origin was ascertained ; it is now known to be the stem of a small palm of this group, licuala acutifida, of the island of Pe- nang ; the stem is seldom much more than 5 ft. high, and has a diameter of an inch ; the canes are prepared for walking sticks by scraping the surface and polishing. The genus chamce- rops is noted as being the northernmost of the palm family; one species, C. Jiumilis, grows wild in southern Europe as far as Nice ; another {C. excelsa) is found in Asia as high as lat. 44 ST.; and one of our southern palms belongs to this genus. (See PALMETTO.) The most important tree of this tribe is the date palm, phoenix dactylifera. (See DATE.) 5. The fifth tribe, cocoinece, includes both large and small trees, some with thorny trunks ; the leaves are pinnate, the pinnules with their margins turned downward ; the flowers at first enclosed in a spathe ; fruit a drupe, with its exterior por- tion (sarcocarp) fibrous or oily, the inner por- tion (endocarpj thick and woody, with three scars, from one of which the embryo issues; seed oily. This tribe takes its name from its most important genus, cocos, of which there are about a dozen species, including C. nucifera, the cocoanut palm. (See COCOANUT TREE.) The peach palm, Guilielma speciosa, a native of Venezuela, and cultivated in other parts of South America, is a lofty tree, its stem armed with sharp small spines ; its fruit, borne in large clusters, is about the size of an apricot, pear- shaped, and scarlet and orange-colored when ripe; the outer portion abounds in starchy matter, and when roasted is said to taste much like the potato ; it forms a considerable portion of the food of the natives, who also ferment the fruit with water and prepare an alcoholic beverage. The trees of the genus Maximili- ana form a striking feature in South American scenery; the Inaja palm of the Amazon, M. regia, reaches over 100 ft., and has a crown of immense leaves, which are 30 to 50 ft. long ; the spathes are 5 or 6 ft. long, woody, and about 2 ft. broad, tapering at each end to a narrow point ; these are used as packages in which to keep and transport flour and other articles, and will resist the action of heat sufficiently to serve as cooking utensils. The coquita palm of Chili is Jubwa spectabilis, one of the most southern species, and furnishes the palm honey so much used by the Chilians ; this is obtained by felling the tree, removing the crown, and catching the sap which runs from the wound ; the flow is kept up by removing a thin slice of the end each day, and it continues Coquita Palm (Jubsea spectabilis), for several months, each trunk yielding about 90 gallons ; the sap is boiled down to the con- sistence of molasses, and used as a substitute for sugar ; the small nuts of the tree are edi- ble, and are a considerable article of export to other parts of South America. They are de- prived of their husks in a singular manner; cows and oxen, which are very fond of the green husks, are allowed to feed upon the nuts ; they only masticate the husk and swal- low the nuts whole ; when afterward they chew the cud they reject the nuts, and when the animals have finished ruminating these are found deposited in small heaps, perfectly free from the husk. The piassata of Brazil, Atta- lea funifera, furnishes a strong and valuable fibre in the decayed bases of the leaf stalks ; it is also called monkey grass and Para grass, and is used for various purposes ; each fibre is the size of a small quill, smooth and stiff ; consid- erable quantities are sent to England, where it is made into coarse brooms ; the brushes of street-cleaning machines are made of it. The fruit of this is different from that in any of the allied genera, it being three-celled and three-seeded. The nuts are an article of com- merce, and known as coquilla nuts ; they are oval, about 3 in. long, of a rich brown color, and have an extremely hard and bony texture ;