Pallium
a square woolen cloak, much resembling the chlamys, from which it can only be distinguished by its greater length and amplitude. It was capable of enveloping the entire person, which it could cover at night as a blanket. It was much worn by the Greeks, and pithy, intermingled with bundles of fiber longitudinally. The leaves vary much in form superficially, but all the variations belong to two types-the fan veined and the pinnate-veined. In the former the general outline is that of a fan. In the other type the leaves are more or less elongated. Leaves of this type are sometimes entire, but more generally pinnate, and impart much elegance and grace to the figure of the particular species to which they belong. 2 1 INNOLLI 4 1. Betel nut palm. 2. Palmyra palm. 3 PALMS corresponding to the toga of the Romans. In ecclesiology, a pall, an ornamental band of white wool three fingers broad, to be worn around the shoulders, with pendants a span in length before and behind, the ends ornamented with red crosses. In the time of Gregory VII. (1073-1085) archbishops went for it to Rome; afterward the Popes sent it to them when they received their appointment. In zoölogy, the mantle of a bivalve mollusk. PALM (Palmæ or Palmacea), a natural order of endogenous plants, the products of which are of extreme importance and utility to man. They are arborescent, with erect stems, usually slender as compared with the extreme height to which some of the species attain; and simple or rarely branching; some are stemless, their leaves springing 3. Cocoanut palm. 4. Double cocoanut palm.
The size of palm leaves varies extremely, some being only a few inches in length, as in some species of Malortia, while in Manicaria saccifera they attain the enormous proportions of 35 feet in length by 5 or 6 feet in breadth. The flowers are small individually, but numerous, usually of a yellow tint, and in some species powerfully odorous. They are unisexual, bisexual, or polygamous, the male and female flowers being borne in some species on different plants. The fruit when ripe is berry-like, drupaceous, plum-like, or, as in the cocoanut, nutlike.
Palms are native chiefly of the tropi. cal regions of the earth. Their stems when young and tender are delicious and nutritious food; when old and mature those of certain species yield valuable farinaceous substances; some are valuable as timber trees, and the termi- PALM nal bud of several consists of a mass of tender mucilaginous leaves, which are esteemed a delicate and delicious vegetable. Many yield by incision or otherwise an abundance of sweet sap, from which sugar, refreshing drinks, wines, spirits, and vinegar are obtained. Their leaves are used for thatch, and for the making of mats, baskets, hats, umbrellas, thread, cord, and clothing. They yield excellent and inexhaustible materials and they are in some cases a natural substitute for writing paper, the records and writings of many Eastern peoples being inscribed upon them.
The order comprises between 130 and 140 genera, and the number of species known is variously estimated by different authorities as from 600 to 1,000. The genus Chamædorea, composed of about 60 species, are used in South America for making bridges. The flowers of several of the species are highly esteemed as a culinary vegetable in some of the countries of Central America.
The fruit of Leopoldina major, called by the natives of Brazil Jará-assu, is collected by them and burned, and the ash, after being washed, is used as a substitute for salt. Euterpe edulis also a native of Brazil-produces fruit like the sloe from which a beverage is made and Oncosperma filamentosa furnish edible cabbage. F From the fruit of the Enocarpus batava a wholesome beverage called Patawa-yukissé is made on the Rio Negro. The fruit of Oreodoxa regia, an extremely handsome palm, a native of Cuba, is too acrid for human food, but is used there for fattening hogs.
Areca catechu is the betel-nut palm, the fruit is much used in India. Besides being used as a masticatory and medicine in cases of dysentery, the substance is employed in tanning leather and in dyeing calico. But the true cabbage 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 inflorescence is extracted from the spathes before they open, are pickled, and esteemed a delicate relish with meat. The nuts yield a useful oil by decoction. The shell or outer hard crust of the stem is employed in making gutters, and the pith yields a kind of sago if extracted immediately the tree is felled. Ceroxlyon (Iriartia) andicola, a native of Peru, growing at an elevation of 8,000-10,000 feet above sea-level, is a ulous fruit. Raphia vinifera, a native PALM 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 inhabitants cera de palma. It is employed 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. exorrhiza) is a native of Central and South America. The timber is used in flooring and for making umbrella sticks, musical 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 different 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 celebrated for its great strength and durability when formed into cordage and ropes, and at the base of the leaves a fine woolly material, named baru is employed in caulking ships, stuffing cushions, and making tinder. a Caryota urens, one of the noblest palms of India, yields some remarkable products. From the terminal bud sweet watery liquor is obtained. The terminal bud is also eaten as a cabbage.
From the pith of the stem sago is obtained, 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 connecting link between the palms and the grasses. Certain species-viz. C. Roxburghii, 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 finest quality of the resinous substance known as "dragon's blood." Zalacca edulis is regularly cultivated by the Burmese for the sake of its pleasantly acid- PALM of Guinea, yields a rather abundant sap, from which a strongly spirituous wine is obtained. One of the most beautiful an inhabitant of the banks of the Amazon. The trunk of the tree is short, from zon.
The foot- 6 to 10 feet high, but from the summit the leaves rise almost perpendicularly to the height of 40 feet or more. 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 Indians.
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 Wh PALM variety of uses to which its leaves are put in Ceylon and other parts of India. also very much used for the They are readily formed into umbrellas Egyptian papyrus are formed of the and tents; also or books Many of these alleged to be made of Egyptian papyrus are formed of the leaves of this palm. The tree grows to of which are extensively used for making umbrellas, punkahs, and hats. The stems of L. acutifolia are made into walking sticks, named by Europeans "Penang Lawyers." Lawyers." Copernicia cerifera , a native of northern Brazil, produces an edible fruit; and from the leaves is obtained an making. Of the American palmetto palm, a making.
Of the American palmetto palm, a native of the Carolinas and Florida, the palmetto). Its prodmost important species is the cabbage palmetto (Sabal pal ucts are timber and the leaves, the former being exceedingly durable, very wharf building, as it resists water and (Mauritia flexuosa), a native of Guiana, wharf building, as it resists water and furnishes timber for building dwellings, ngs, is not attacked by the teredo. The the leaves thatch for the same, and ma- palmetto of Europe is Chamærops huthe leaves thatch for the same, and ma- both shores of the Mediterranean, octhe pith yields sago; the juice by fermen- both shores of the Mediterranean, octation gives an excellent beverage; the cupying great tracts. It rarely reaches tation gives an excellent beverage; the 10 feet in height, and usually is much and made into bread; and the fiber is less. The leaves are fan-shaped and converted into cordage and clothing. abound in excellent fiber, with which the converted into cordage and clothing. formis) is one of the most common of its tribe in India. It furnishes the greater part of the palm wine of India.
The liquor is drunk fresh, and will only keep sweet for about three days, when it undergoes fermentation and becomes gery is also made from the juice. The Afghanistan, and C. excelsa, a native of young plants when a few inches high are cooked and eaten as a vegetable. In India the leaves are almost universally lus.
The double cocoanut, or sea cocoanut lus.
The double cocoanut, or sea cocoanut beautifully polished and carved by native workmen, and formed into caskets and other ornaments. The tree, a native of the Seychelle Islands, is very beautiful, attaining a height of from 50 to 80 feet, with leaves 20 feet long supported on stalks of equal length. The chief products of the tree are timber and fiber for cordage, and a downy kind of fiber products of the tree are timber and fiber on stalks of equal length. The chief for cordage, and a downy kind of fiber Arabs, combining it with camel's hair, make tent covers; in Spain it is made into ropes and sailcloth, and in France into carpets named African haircloth.
The French in Algeria make paper and pasteboard of it. The fruit is edible, and is eaten by the Arabs and the inhabitants of Sicily and southern Italy. C. Ritchieana, a native of Scinde and China and Japan, both produce excellent fiber. The leaves of Thrinax argentea supply the material called "chip," of which ladies' hats and bonnets of that name are made. The trunks of T. parviflora, a native of Jamaica, though of slender diameter, are said to be very suitable for piles and marine buildings. of Guiana, and the Papúnba of the Amazon are the local names of one species zon are the local names of one species duces fruits somewhat triangular in bright reddish yellow in color. They have a peculiar oily flavor, and are eaten chestnuts. They are also ground into PALMA Great Macaw tree of the West Indies (Acrocomia sclerocarpa) is a native of Jamaica, Trinidad, and the adjacent islands and continent. In Brazil it is called Macahuba, and in Guiana Macoya.
The fruit yields an oil of yellow color, sweetish taste, and having the odor of violets, which is employed by the natives as an emollient for painful affections of the joints; and in Europe it is used in the manufacture of toilet soaps. cuma), a native of the Rio Negro and the upper Amazon, yields a very supe: rior fiber. The fleshy outer covering of the fruit is eaten by the natives. The The Tucum palm (Astrocaryum tu- Murumuru palm (A. murumuru) profragrance of musk. Cattle eat it with avidity. Attalea funifera furnishes the whalebone-like fiber now so much used for making brooms and brushes. The tree attains the height of 20 30 feet. the base of the leaves, which are used duces very agreeable fruit with for thatching, the fiber known in com-