A species of palm (Borassus flabelliformis) having a
   straight, black, upright trunk, with palmate leaves. It is found native
   along the entire northern shores of the Indian Ocean, from the mouth of
   the Tigris to New Guinea. More than eight hundred uses to which it is
   put are enumerated by native writers. Its wood is largely used for
   building purposes; its fruit and roots serve for food, its sap for
   making toddy, and its leaves for thatching huts.