Palms have tall, columnar trunks without branches, but with crowns of large leaves at their summits. Their forms and proportions are often magnificent. The wood is soft, light, more or less porous, difficult to work, and not strong. The shapes of trunks sometimes cause them to be locally prized for piles, while the porous qualities of the wood are such as to repel teredo.[112] There are many by-products, as fruit, nuts, oil, etc. The rattan or cane palms of India and the Malayan Islands sometimes grow to a height of two hundred feet and are imported into Europe and America for chair-bottoms and the like. Sudworth[113] enumerates the following as attaining to the dignity of trees in the United States: Cabbage Palmetto (_Sabal palmetto_). Silvertop Palmetto (_Thrinax microcarpa_). Silktop Palmetto (_Thrinax parviflora_). Mexican palmetto (_Sabal mexicana_). Sargent Palm (_Pseudoph[oe]nix sargentii_). Fanleaf Palm (_Washingtonia filifera_). Royal Palm (_Oredoya regia_). [p186] FOOTNOTES [Footnote 111: Coulter, "Plants," p. 241.] [Footnote 112: "Marine Wood Borers," Snow Trans. Am. Soc. C. E., Vol. XL, pp. 195 and 204.] [Footnote 113: "Check List," U. S. Forestry Bul. No. 17.] A. L. Wallace, "Palm Trees of Amazon and their Uses," London, 1853. CABBAGE PALMETTO. _Sabal palmetto Walt._ Nomenclature. (Sudworth.) Cabbage Palmetto, Palmetto (N. C., S. C.). Cabbage Tree (Miss., Fla.). Tree Palmetto (La.). Locality. Southern Atlantic and Gulf coast, United States (intermittently). Features of Tree. Medium size, thirty to forty feet in height, one to two and one-half feet in diameter. Color, Appearance, or Grain of Wood. Light-brown tint. Characteristic coarse fibre arrangement. Structural Qualities of Wood. Light, soft, difficult to work; durable in marine work; repels teredo. Representative Uses of Wood. Piles, wharf work, etc. Weight of Seasoned Wood in Pounds per Cubic Foot. 27. Modulus of Elasticity. Modulus of Rupture. Remarks. Scrubbing-brush "bristles" are made in considerable quantities in Florida from the sheath of young leaves. The inner part of young plants is edible. It is said (N. Y. _Evening Post_, April 20, 1901) that paper is being manufactured from the leaves of the Palmetto. [p187] WASHINGTON PALM. FANLEAF PALM. _Washingtonia filifera Wendl._ _Neowashingtonia filamentosa Wendl._ Nomenclature. (Sudworth.) Fanleaf Palm, Washington Palm, Desert Palm (Cal.). California Fan Palm, Arizona Palm, Wild Date (Cal.). Locality. California. Features of Tree. Thirty to sixty feet in height, one and one-half to three feet in diameter. Fan-shaped leaves rising yet farther in tuft from summit; edible fruit. Color, Appearance, or Grain of Wood. Light greenish yellow to dark red, conspicuous grain. Structural Qualities of Wood. Soft, light, shrinks in seasoning, difficult to work. Representative Uses of Wood. Ornamental purposes.