ected article. [7]

Buri Straw.

The Buri Palm.

There are about six species of the genus Corypha in tropical Asia,
but only one of these is found in the Philippines; this is Corypha
elata, the buri palm. [8] It is widely distributed throughout the
Philippines but is most abundant in the central part of the Pampanga
valley and in southern Tayabas.

Mr. C. W. Franks, formerly Division Superintendent of Schools for
Mindoro Province, had a careful estimate made by his teaching force
of the stands of buri palms on the Island of Mindoro. It was found
that 5,000 hectares of land on this island are covered by 2,000,000
buri palms, of which 225,000, or about 12 per cent, are mature trees.

The Island of Burias, the Isla Verde, and other small islands are
fairly covered with the palm. The Province of Sorsogon, including the
Island of Masbate, is also well supplied. In the Visayas there are
districts in Panay, Negros, Cebu, and Bohol, where many buri trees
are found.

The buri is the largest palm that grows in the Philippines, attaining
a height of 20 meters. Its trunk is very erect, spirally ridged and
up to 0.7 meter in diameter. Its wood is of no commercial value.

The full-grown leaves may be three meters long. They are spherical
in outline and the lower one-third or one-half is entire, like
the palm of the hand. The upper part is divided into from 80 to 100
segments each from 1.5 to 6 cm. wide and appearing like fingers spread
apart. The petioles supporting the leaves are about 3 meters long and
20 cm. thick, and are provided with long, stout, curved spines. Both
margins and spines are black in color. At flowering time all the
leaves are shed. The young leaf grows out from the top of the palm
with the segments pressed together in the form of a lance.

The buri flowers and fruits but once and then dies. This is said
to occur when the plant is from 25 to 40 years old. The individual
flowers are greenish-white in color and only from 5 to 6 mm. in
diameter. They are nevertheless perfect flowers, with calyx, corolla,
and ovary showing plainly a division into threes, and stamens six
in number. Thousands of these flowers occur on the large, terminal,
much branched, pyramidal inflorescence which may grow to be 7 meters in
height. The lower branches of this inflorescence may be as much as 3.5
meters long, the upper shorter, the highest about one meter in length.

From 10 to 12 months after flowering the fruits are matu