Palm
2 of the 7 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Palm. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
2026 Editor's Note: This page uses language about race that was commonplace when the book was published and is offensive by today's standards. The text has been left exactly as it was printed, rather than cut or softened, so that the historical record — including how ordinary such language once was — is preserved. (Ed: ET 2026-07-22) 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 ' direct from the ground; others are sarmentose, twining about the stems and branches of neighboring trees, by means of books or prickles, or trailing on the ground with stems of almost incredible length and extreme slenderness, as in the case of many of the Calami. The interior of the stem is generally soft 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. 4 3 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 terminal 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 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. Caryota urens, 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 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 acidulous fruit. Raphia vinifera, 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. tædegera, an inhabitant of the banks of the Amaand tents; The trunk of the tree is short, from zon. books 6 to 10 feet high, but from the summit or the leaves rise almost perpendicularly to The footthe 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 "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 making. about 2 inches thick inclosing a mass of spongy pith-the sago. When felled the Wh stem is cut into lengths of 6 or 7 feet, which are split, the better to remove palmetto (Sabal 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 porous, and ( Mauritia flexuosa), a native of Guiana, wharf building furnishes timber for building dwellings ngs,, is not attacked the leaves thatch for the same, and ma- palmetto of terial for mats, couches, hammocks, etc .; milis, which the pith yields sago; the juice by fermen- both shores tation gives an excellent beverage; the cupying great kernels of the fruits are ground into meal 10 feet in and made into bread; and the fiber is less. The converted into cordage and clothing. abound in The Palmyra palm (Borassus flabelliformis) 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. Jaggery is also made from the juice. The Afghanistan, 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 stylus. The double cocoanut, or sea cocoanut as it has been called, is Lodoicea seychellarum. The nuts of this tree are often 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 which envelops the young leaves is used for filling mattresses and pillows. The Talipat palm of Ceylon (Corypha umbraculifera) is notable only for the variety of uses to which its leaves are put in Ceylon and other parts of India. They are readily formed into umbrellas also very much used for the also colahs of the inhabitants. Many of these alleged to be made of Egyptian papyrus are formed of the leaves of this palm. The tree grows to the height of 100 feet. Licuala peltata is the Chittah-pat of Assam, the leaves 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 , a native Lawyers." Lawyers." Copernicia cerifera of northern Brazil, produces an edible fruit; and from the leaves is obtained an inferior vegetable wax used in candle Of the American palmetto palm, a native of the Carolinas and Florida, the most important species is the cabbage palmetto). Its prodpal ucts are timber and the leaves, the former being exceedingly durable, very especially valuable for , as it resists water and by the teredo. The Europe is Chamærops huinhabits the countries on of the Mediterranean, octracts. It rarely reaches height, and usually is much leaves are fan - shaped and excellent fiber, with which the 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 and C. excelsa, a native of 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. The Piritu of Venezuela, the Paripou of Guiana, and the Papúnba of the Amazon are the local names of one species of palm-Gulielma speciosa. It produces fruits somewhat triangular in shape, about the size of an apricot, and bright reddish yellow in color. They have a peculiar oily flavor, and are eaten boiled or roasted, when they resemble chestnuts. They are also ground into meal, which is baked in cakes. The 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. The Tucum palm (Astrocaryum tucuma), 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 Murumuru palm (A. murumuru) produces very agreeable fruit with fragrance 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 for thatching, the fiber known in commerce as piassava fiber, is employed in the countries in which it grows to make behind coarse but strong and durable cables. haustion The fruit is the well - known Coquilla nut, woods much used in turnery for the making of weeks knobs to walking sticks and umbrellas, days later. handles to bell pulls, etc. The print of A. cohune yields from its kernel a valuable oil called cohune oil. It is a native of Honduras and the Isthmus of Panama. The trunk, which attains the height of about 40 feet and is crowned with leaves some 30 feet long, yields by tapping a kind of palm wine. The palm oil of the Africa is the product of the fruit of the Spanish soldiers while on a Elæis guineensis. The tree is cultivated a now in the West Indies and tropical journey South America for the sake of the oil. It is used by the natives universally as butter is in Europe. The quantity of palm oil now exported is enormous. It is employed in the manufacture of candles, toilet and common soaps, and as a lubricant of railway carriage wheels, etc. The Coquito of Chile is Jubæa spectabilis. From its trunk a syrup is extracted, called miel de palma, which is much esteemed by the Chileans and Europeans. PALMA. (1) The capital of the island the Balearic of MAJORCA (q. v.) and of Islands, on the Bay of Palma, on the S. coast. The cathedral, a Gothic edifice (1322-1601), contains the tomb of minister King Jayme II. of Aragon and a valuable collection of church ornaments. in the The tomb of Raymond Lully is church of St. Francis. There are, further, a beautiful exchange (1426-1446), an old Moorish palace, and a 16th-century town hall, with ictures. Its in-
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
pam, a large family, including 1,000 species of useful plants, chiefly tropical. Most palms are trees, some are dwarf in habit, and others again are creeping vines. A tuft of leaves at the end of the stem falls away as the stem rises or advances, giving the upright trees an arrowy stem, twenty to 150 feet in height. The stem is surmounted by a spreading crown of long, graceful leaves, attaining a size of thirty feet in length by four feet in width. The creeping stem of the rattan palm winds its way like a slender pumpkin vine over and through the jungle until the terminal tuft is, it is alleged, 600 feet from the original root. The palm family ranks next to the grass family in utility to mankind. A mere enumeration of the various uses to which the different palms are put would require pages. Salt is obtained from palm ashes; meal, from the pith; "cabbage," from the crown; walls and rafters are made of the stems; the leaves are used for roofing; the seeds afford oil and fruit; palms supply sago, raffia, rattan, ropes, soap, and medicine. Entire tribes are dependent on palms for food, shade, shelter, clothing, furniture, and luxuries. A study of the uses of the palm and its part in the history of mankind would be the work of a lifetime. St. John states that the people of Jerusalem, hearing that Christ was coming, "took branches of palm trees and went forth to meet him." The Psalmist says, "The righteous flourish like a palm tree." In Revelations vii: 8, "Lo a great multitude . . . stood before the throne . . . with palms in their hands." The crusaders marched to the rescue of Jerusalem bearing branches of palm trees, and for centuries a holy palmer (read Marmion and Ivanhoe), was one who had made a pilgrimage to the Holy Sepulcher and Jerusalem and had brought away a palm branch in token of his journey. Various palms are discussed under separate titles. See Raffia ; Rattan ; Sago ; Palmetto ; Date ; Cocoanut