the trunk or stem becomes available upon natural or accidental death of the palm or by forced removal. The soft growing point or terminal bud, sweet in taste, can be consumed either raw as a salad or as a cooked vegetable somewhat resembling artichoke hearts though this varies with the palm variety (445). Date growers of the Sahara attribute depurative properties to the bud and it is consumed more for this purpose than as a food (363). In time of food scarcity the inside of the trunk has been pulverized and turned into a coarse flour for human consumption (363). But the trunk's main use is for its wood, which intrinsically is not of high quality because of the coarse vascular bundles (monocotolydon!) but it has great tensile strength. Its use is therefore geared to exploit this characteristic such as for poles, beams (Fig. 86), rafters, lintels, girders, pillars, jetties and light foot bridges. For this purpose they can be used whole or split in half or quarters. Hollowed out half trunks are used as conduits for water, or at shorter lengths for mangers and troughs. Sawn into coarse planks they are made up into doors, shutters and staircases for houses