Vegetable ivory is a product made from the very hard white endosperm of the seeds of certain palm trees. Vegetable ivory is named for its resemblance to elephant ivory. Species in the genus Phytelephas, native to South America are the most important sources of vegetable ivory. The seeds of Metroxylon amicarum, from Micronesia and Hyphaene ventricosa, from Africa are also used to produce vegetable ivory.
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Famous quotes containing the words vegetable and/or ivory:
“It’s peeling now, age has got it,
a kind of cancer of the background
and also in the assorted features.
It’s like a rotten flag
or a vegetable from the refrigerator,
pocked with mold.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)
“It’s wonderful how I jog
on four-honed-down ivory toes
my massive buttocks slipping
like oiled parts with each light step.”
—Philip Levine (b. 1928)