Borassus
(a name applied by Linnaeus to the spathe of the Date Palm). ORD. Palmae. A very small genus of stove trees, containing two noble species, which are distinguished by unisexual flowers, produced upon distinct plants, the males being borne in dense branching catkins, and the females on simple, or, more rarely, slightly branched spikes. Fruit very large, brown, three-seeded. Leaves fan-shaped, with spiny petioles. Trunks unarmed, often 70ft. high. They may be grown in good fibrous loam, leaf mould, and sand, mainly the former. Increased by seeds only, which require to be sown in strong bottom heat. Rarely seen in cultivation.
B. aethiopicum (African). l. nearly circular, and plaited, supported upon stout petioles, 6ft. to 7ft. long. Western Tropical Africa. This handsome, but rare, species is remarkable for the bulging out or swelling in its stem, near the middle, or about two-thirds of its height from the ground. B. flabelliformis (fan-shaped).* l. nearly circular, and plaited like a partially-open fan, with about seventy ribs, which radiate from a common centre. h. 30ft. India, 1771.