Caryota

Caryota, a genus of palms having bi-pinnate leaves with cuneate leaflets with jagged ends. The fruits are small, round, purplish, and berry-like. Of the nine species, all natives of the East Indies, the best known is C. urens, the Kittool palm, 50 to 60 feet high, with a stem a foot in diameter, and leaves reaching 20 feet in length and 12 feet in breadth. From its flower spikes abundance of toddy, or palm-wine, is obtained, from which jaggery, or palm-sugar, is prepared by boiling. Sago is prepared from the pith-like central tissue of the stem; and kittool, or Indian gut, a useful fibre for brooms, brushes, and ropes, is the ramenta or fibre of the leaf-stalk.