ABSTRACT
Uses — Palmyra palm is grown for the juice or toddy, extracted from the inflorescence from which sugar or jaggery is made. Tender fruits resembling pieces of translucent ice are eaten during hot season. Seeds are eaten as well as fruits. Fleshy scales of young seedling shoots are eaten as a delicacy, especially in northern Sri Lanka, or dried to make a starchy powder (reported to contain a neurotoxin). Salt prepared from leaves. The inflorescence is a source of sugar, wine, and vinegar. Five types of fiber are obtained from different parts of the plant, used for hats, thatching houses, books, writing paper, mats, bags, and all types of utensils for carrying or storing water and food. Timber is black, sometimes with yellow grain, strong, splits easily; said to withstand a greater cross-strain than any other known timber; used for boat making, rafters, water pipes, walking sticks, umbrella handles and rulers. Tree also yields a black gum. A Tamil poem enumerates 801 ways to use this palm. Sometimes planted as a windbreak.278,397
