Caryota

Caryota, a genus of lofty palms, natives of the East Indies, easily recognised by their remarkable twice pinnate leaves. One species, C. urens, remarkable for the acidity of its fruit, which produces a burning sensation when its pulp is applied to the skin, is also highly valuable for the great quantity of sap (toddy) which flows from its wounded spathes, sometimes, in the hot season, to the amount of 100 pints in twenty-four hours from a single tree. Sugar (jaggery) is made from this juice by boiling it down, and on this account this palm is sometimes called the Jaggery palm. The 'cabbage' is also eaten, and the pith yields sago. The outer part of the stem is very hard, and applicable to many purposes. The fibres of the leaf-stalks are twisted into ropes, the leaf-stalks make fishing-rods, and the woolly substance found at their base is used for caulking ships.