Spec. Plant. Willd. iv. 400. Cl. 21. Ord. 6. Moncecia Hexandria. Nat. ord. Palmae. G. 1680. Spathe general, one-celled. Spadix branched.

Male flowers. Calyx three-leaved. Corolla tripetalous.

Female------. Calyx two leaved. Corolla six-petaled.

Style none. Stigma hollowed. Drupe fibrous. Species 3. C. butyracea. The Mackaw Tree. Piso, Hist. Nat.

lib. iv. p. 125. (Pindova.) Officinal. Coci butyraceae oleum fixum, Edin. Palm-oil. Syn. Huile de Cocobier du Bresil (F.), Olio di Cocco del Bresale (I.).

1 Annales de Chimie, lxx. 185.

2 The syrup is made by infusing one drachm of scraped horse-radish in one ounce of boiling water, in a covered vessel, and adding double its weight of sugar. Of this syrup a tea-spoonful is to be swallowed leisurely, and repeated at intervals.

This species of palm is a native of Brazil, and is found in abundance near the mines of Ybaquenses, and in other parts of South America. It is a lofty plant with a stem from three to five feet thick, clothed with a rough bark, and the foliage forming a very dense shade. The fruit, which is collected throughout the year, is an obovate, one-celled, succulent drupe, of a yellow colour, with a point at the upper end; and at the base, the hard persistent calyx. The fruit has a filamentous skin and a fleshy pulp, and contains a hard nut, having a cartilaginous kernel, with nearly the same taste as that of the common cocoa-nut.1

This kernel yields the oil. It is first coarsely pounded, or ground in a mill, then macerated in hot water, until it parts with its oil, which, collecting on the surface of the water, concretes as it cools. It is afterwards purified by washing in hot water. But the greater part of the Palm-oil brought to Europe is the product of the Elais Guiniensis, the drupe of which abounds with a fat oil.

Qualities.-Palm-oil has an agreeable odour, resembling that of violets, or of the Florentine Iris, and a slightly sweetish taste. It is of the consistence of butter, and has a light lemon-yellow colour; it becomes rancid by long keeping, loses its pleasant odour, and its yellow colour fades to a dirty white. It is said to be sometimes imitated with hog's lard coloured with turmeric, and scented with Florentine Iris root.

Medical properties and uses.-This vegetable butter is emollient; and as such is sometimes used externally in frictions.