.%1j RAO: DOUMPALMS 49

It ha,l ::',r\n i', large that we had to withstand fire year after year, endure :,i,k it ul, r,:ih ,,ur palm-movingderrick. temperaturesdown to 10o F., as well as Ilr this tim,' r.t *ere developingour ten severedroughts. But comewhat may, the .i,res in thr ,,runtrr- u.here the much- following spring they lift their palmate' iravtlletl pelnittt,r. at long last, found leaved heads and send forth graceful it. final r--tin:1,1a,.e.It norv gracefulll sprays of delicate.fragrant, honey-laden (lecorates ,rur entrance drivervay where flowers. \\'e see it er-erv dav. The clump is nine Even though this saw-palmetto,the feet high and thirtr'-five feet in circum- commonestpalm in Florida, still covers ference: the lear-esretain that glaucous, thousands of acres of land throughout bluish color l'hich gives a pleasing con- the state,it is facing future extinction if trast to the usuai shadesof green around developerscontinue to bulldoze it out in it. Since this palm gives every indication order to make way for subdivisions,or- that it likes the spot, it serves as a re- angegroves and pasturelands. More of "difficult" minder that the saw-palmetto them should be used for beautification ,.an be successfullymoved. purposes.Since it is an intrinsic part of \\-hen one is well acquainted with our native Florida landscape scene, it ''scrubby" these palms, one cannot help shouldbecome a part of our plannedand l,ut admire them. Rarely do we find more sophisticatedpicture. This planned members of the world with the Florida garden necessitatesthe careful -tamina that they exhibit. They are a moving of these so-called unmovable hardr-. noble palm fdr they are able to palms.

The DoumPqlms in Indio Srsn.lclnr Rlo Ron.c, BotanicalSuruey ol Ind'ia, Poona. Photographsby the Author,

Hyphaene thebaica (Linn.) Mart., pop- (FiS. 2l) and Calcutta gardens grow ularly called the Egyptian Doum Palm, well, producing large fruits. Though the grows along the valley of the in palm is propagated by seed, it is inter- middle and upper , which is evi- esting to record that it has never spread dently its original home and also along so far in this period of more than half a central and northern and . century to the coastal area or any other This species was introduced during the suitable locality outside the garden either last century to a few gardens in India, on the west coast or east coast. On the particularly to those along the west coast contrary, a very closely allied species, like Mazagaon Hill garden, Bombay-10, ind,ica Becc., grows luxuriant' Public gardens, Baroda and also the In- ly in wild condition at several places dian Botanic Garden, Calcutta. It is also along the west coast only. recorded from Royal Botanical Gardens, Hyphaene indica Becc. is a very dis' Peradeniya, Ceylon, and Shaik Othman tinct species, though it has been usually near Aden where it is evidently intro- confused with the true Egyptian Doum duced, as there is no report of its distri- Palm, 11. thebaica. H. indica was first bution along the Persian and Arabian described by Beccari in his paper on the coast. It flourishes well in rich sandy various African species oI Hyphaene loam and the palms seen in Bombay published in L'Agricohura Coloniale ii, 50 PRINCIPES [Vol. 8

21. Dichotomously branched upper portion oI H. thebaica tree at Mazagaon Hill Garden, Bombay.

22. General view of a large grove oI H. indica along the beach of Daman Grande with several seed- lings of the palm along the sandy bed and the Arabian Sea in the background. 1%rl RAO: DOUMPAIffS 5I "Ravana Fl',rence.l,l,A. 137-183,on the basisof Tal" has an interesting rela- the specimenscollected from Diu, the tionship with the epic name Ravana,the small erstrhile Portuguesecolony of ten-headedDemon King of Lanka, the Saura-.htraCoast and sent by Gammie Ceylon o{ the Indian epic "Ramayanal' fr,:,6 lpd13. Since then, there seemsto The name Tal only signifiesthe common l'e no record of the occurrence of 11. Palmyra tree(Borassus /labellifer Linn.), indica |rom other parts of the west coast. with monopodial stem, and as H. ind,ica The author. during his studies on the has severalbranches, each with a crown l-loraof bestern India. has observedthe of leaves,it is comparedwith the multi- lururiant gros'th of this species,some- headedand multi-handedRavana with a times representedin considerablylarge single body. numbers at someplaces along the north- There is a general belief that all the ern part of the west coast of India, par- specimensoI Hyphaene growing in the ticularlr betweenl8o-23o Lat., such as gardens of India belong to H. thebaica, the coastal areas opposite Nagaon (on an introduction from Egypt. But on ex- the rar to Revdandafrom Alibag), Shir- amination of the specimenssent by Prof. gaon (ber-ondPalghar), Dahanu, Darnan F-igs.22 and 23), Okamundel, Diu ,Saurashtraarea). It is very likely that this species may occur along suitable sandvcoastal areas in the range south of {libag along the west coast, and also of Daman-Diu range of the Gujarat State 'Fig. 24). It does not, however, grow along the rocky coastalbelt where there is no sand cover. As such this speciesis not seenalong the rocky coastsnear Pan- jim and Marmagoa of Goa area. With the availabledata it is clear that it is re- stricted to the west coast only and that, on the basis of current available infor- mation, to the northern part. It would be of interest to record whether this speciesextends further south to Kerala State along suitable sandy coastal areas and also to Ceylon. Beccari, however, points out, on the basis of some imper- fect material oI Hyphaenecollected from Jaffna, the northernmost point in Cey- lon, that it differs very much from 11. indica. It is, therefore, worthwhile to study the collections from Jaffna for proper understandingof the distribution of H. indica. H. indica is locally called in the Sher- "Ravana gaon-Dahanuarea Tal" and in "Makamberul'The 23. A lonely graceful taee of. H. inilica the Daman area name the sea on the Daman (small) coast. 52 PRINCIPES [Vol. B ilarly, the author's recent scrutiny of the young and old specimensof Doum Palms growing in the Indian Botanic Garden, Sibpur, Calcutta, brings out an inter- of the occurrenceo{ three GUJARAT esting feature young treesoI H. ind'icawhich have now started producing fruits. As the general record o{ the palm speciesin the Gar' den indibatesH. thebaica only, which is representedby very old tall palms, it is quite possiblethat 11. indica was intro' duced inadvertently from seedsobtained from the West Coast of India. From the generalhabit of the palm it is quite difficult to distinguish the two speciesoI Hyphaene.The fruits are,how- ever, very distinct, particularly in the dried surface texture of the exocarp. which is smooth and shining in H ' the' baica and rough and cracked in H. in- dica; and in the pedicel,which is indis- tinct and surrounded by a thick, bushy, hairy cushion, thus making it broader than high in the former, and distinct,

t( elongateup to t0-15 mm., with short ,d, fine hairs,,in the latter. The axis of the t 6 {emaleinflorescence is also distinct, par-

z6 ticularly in the hairy texture and the rhomboid tomentosecushionlike struc. ..t tures which are more in number in each spiral and distinctly protruding out more in the former than in the latter(Fig. 25) . There is practically no difierence in the internal structure of the fruit of either species(Fig. 26). Sometimestwo carpels insteadof one developin 11.indica,Iorm- 24. Map of western India showing the distribu' ing a two-seededfruit, but this is mostly idon oI Hyphaen,e ind'ica Becc. Index tn local- ities: l, Goa; 2, Nagaon; 3, Bombay; 4, Shir' seenin young fruits only. Such a double gaon; 5, Dahanu; 6, Daman; 7, Baroda; B, Diu. fruit in a fully mature statehas not been observed so far. Undevelopedfruits o{ varving sizes.which becomeshrivelled A. R. Chavan of M. S. University, Baro- and fall off, show sufficientlylong pedi- da, from trees growing in the Public cels,even extending to 17 mm. Park, Baroda, it is evident thaL H. in' dica has also found a place in the gar- EconomicUses dens, possibly introduced inadvertently The fleshy, fibrous exocarp of the from the seed material of the palms {ruit o{ both speciesis somewhatsweet growing along the Gujarat coast. Sim- and bitter and is eatenby boys along the r9641 RAO: DOUMPAL-\IS

;;* ttu' ts3

* a oi $l; b1-.l ir:'1

25. Photo showing the fruit (Al) and female inflorescence axis (A2) of Hyphnene thebaica and those of H.ind.ica (Bl and 82) and also male inflorescence axis (83) with small male flowers (b3) oI H. indica showing variation in pedicel (al and bl), surface texture of exocarp and the tomentose cushions (a2 and b2). Pedicel oI H. thebaica (al) is much enlarged, showing bushy hairy cushion around indistinct stalk in the middle.

* \Ab,1 1

d

b nTr: a i.r.i;.1",i:"11 rI

26. Longitudinal section of the fmits oI H. thebaica (A) and H. indica (B) showing fibrous exocarp (a), hard stony mesocarp (b) and so{t endocarp (c) with white endosperm (d) in the innerrnost portion. 54 PRINCIPES [Vol. 8

times attackedby scolytidbeetles, Cocco' trypes dactyliperda Fdbr., treatment by boric acid 3/o or zinc chloride 5/o or copper sulphate 5% has been recom- mendedas a preventivemeasure. Though it is considered that such buttons in India are made from the nuts of H. the- baica only, imported from Egypt, it is very likely that the nuts of H. indica also get mixed up for such work and may be consideredas useful along with the vegetableivory extracted{rom the talipot palm (C orpyha umbraculil era Linn.) Ior making buttons and beads as a profit- able cottage industry. Along the west coastwhere the are abundant, the leaves like those of many other palms are used {or thatch- ing. As the plants are always in limited number, they are never cut by the vil- lagers, though the wood is useful for posts,beams, etc. H. indica is also quite an attractive 27. Fresh fruits of H. indica with shining palm and though the young stemslook spottedsurface, attached to the axisby distinct rugged, covered by spiny-marginedleaf stalks. basesand petioles,the cluster of leaves presents a graceful appearance.This west coast o{ India and also in Egypt. species,which is propagated by seed, This pulp is considered astringent and would be a good and interesting botan- anthelmintic. The unripe kernel (endo- ical acquisition if introduced in the bo- sperm) in both speciesis also edible. 11. tanical and public gardensand also palm indica, however, produces fruits pro- gardens of tropical coastal parts of the fuselyin bunches(Fig.27). The young world. leavesof H. Lhebaicaare eatenby camels The author wishes to expresshis in Egypt. thanks to Prof. A. R. Chavan of Baroda The hard kernel {rom the mature, dry for kindly sending the material from lruits of H. thebaicais used as vegetable Baroda and to Dr. H. Santapau,Direc- ivory for making buttons and beads.As tor, Botanical Survey of India, for fa- the nuts,the buttons and beadsare some- cilities provided for this work.