Sago misnomer as cycads are not palms. Extracting edible starch from the sago cycad requires special care due to the poisonous nature of cycads. Cycad sago is used for many of the same purposes as palm sago. The fruit of palm trees from which the sago is produced is not allowed to ripen fully. The full ripening completes the life cycle of the tree and exhausts the starch reserves in the trunk to produce the seeds. It leaves a hollow shell and causes the tree to die. The palms are cut down when they are about 15 years old, just before
Sago Street restoration in the 1990s. The Cantonese call the street "little temple street" because of the "tua peh kong" temple located there. The Hokkiens (Min Nan speakers) refer the street as "gu chia chui hi hng koi cheng koi", meaning "the street in front of the theatre (street) in Kreta Ayer". The funeral parlours are located on nearby Sago Lane and not Sago Street. As such, Sago Lane has always being referred to as "sei yang gai" or "street of the dead" in Cantonese. However, there is no cemeteries in Sago Lane. During the years 1950 to 2000, the entire Sago