- 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.
Definition
[ n.]