Phytelephas macrocarpa.

Botanical name: 

Phytelephas macrocarpa Ruiz et Pav. Palmae. Ivory Palm.

Tropical America. The seed at first contains a clear, insipid fluid, with which travelers allay their thirst, afterwards this liquor becomes milky and sweet; at last the fruit is almost as hard as ivory. This hard albumen furnishes a vegetable ivory of commerce.


Sturtevant's Edible Plants of the World, 1919, was edited by U. P. Hedrick.