Another palm of much economic importance in Colombia is the "tagua" (Phytelephas macrocarpa),which grows abundantly in the valleys of the Magdalena, Atrato and Patia, and produces a large melon-shaped fruit in which are found the extremely hard, fine-grained nuts or seeds known in the commercial world as vegetable ivory.
Besides rubber, the forests produce a great variety of cabinet and construction woods, ivory-nuts (from the " tagua " palm, Phytelephas macrocarpa), " toquilla " fibre (Carludovica palmata) for the manufacture of so-called Panama hats, cabbage palms, several species of cinchona, vanilla and dyewoods.
Other Californian cypresses are C. macrocarpa, the Monterey cypress, which is 60 ft.
The fruits do not usually exceed in size the dimensions of a hen's or of a swan's egg, but that of P. macrocarpa is a gourd-like oblong fruit attaining a weight of 7 to 8 lb.
This succulent berry is in some cases highly perfumed, and affords a delicate fruit for the dessert-table, as in the case of the "granadilla" (P. quadrangularis), P. edulis, P. macrocarpa, and various species of Tacsonia known as "curubas" in Spanish South America; P. laurifolia is the water-lemon, and P. maliformis the sweet calabash of the West Indies.