Sept., 1894. ^ BRITISH PALM. 203 



Erythea, peculiar to the former. In South America, Jiihtea, a 

 ChiHan genus, reaches as far south as the 37th parallel of latitude. 

 The only species, Jubcsa spectabtlis, is popularly known as the 

 Chili Coco-nut, and its fruits, looking like miniature coco-nuts an 

 inch and a quarter long, are sometimes sold in this country. 

 In the Western Hemisphere, the southern limit is 44° south 

 latitude in New Zealand, the extreme form being a small endemic 

 palm, classed originally as an Areca (one species of which, A. 

 catechu, yields the well-known Betel-nut) but now separated, 

 together with a closely-allied plant from Norfolk Island, as a 

 distinct genus, Rhopalostylis. North of the Equator the monotypic 

 {i.e., containing only one species) genus Nannovhops lives on the 

 mountains of India, beyond the Indus, and extends through 

 Afghanistan and Beluchistan to S.E. Persia. The only native of 

 Europe is a species of Channsrops, a small genus of dwarf palms confined 

 to the Mediterranean region. Chnmarops humilis is found in the south of 

 Spain and Portugal and on the Mediterranean seaboard, reaching its 

 northern limit at Nice at a latitude of 43° 44'. It is generally quite a 

 dwarf, only three or four feet in height, and sends up numerous 

 suckers in dense tufts. It may, however, form a trunk twenty or 

 thirty feet high. Nyman, in his " Conspectus Florae Europae," 

 speaks of it as the lowly and degenerate representative of a noble 

 family afforded by the European liora, but reminds us that in the 

 extreme south a loftier palm has found a home, viz., Phoenix dactylifera, 

 the date palm. Beyond 38° or 39° latitude the date becomes merely 

 an ornamental tree, as its fruit no longer matures, remaining more or 

 less acid to the taste. It is cultivated in great quantity over 

 the whole of North Africa, and more sparingly in Western Asia 

 and Southern Europe. Like wheat, the sugar-cane, and many of 

 our ancient useful plants, it is now never found in a wild state, and 

 its original home is unknown. 



Of course, pampered individuals in favoured spots will thrive in 

 still more northerly latitudes. The Chusan palm {Trachycarpus excelsa) 

 is sufficiently hardy to stand the winter in the north of France and 

 even in the Isle of Wight. It has, -however, a protection from the 

 cold in the form of a coarse hair resulting from the decomposed 

 bases of the leaf-stalks. The ordinary ratepayer may become 

 acquainted with the family in the London parks during the summer 

 months, where, by the way, I recently heard one described as " the 

 kind of tree of which you see pictures with missionaries sitting 

 under." It was labelled, mcorxeciiy ,\Seafovthia Ciinninghami in small 

 letters and low down. " An Australian Palm " in larger print would 

 have conveyed more information to the author of the remark. 



The one hundred and thirty-two recognised genera of palms are 

 somewhat restricted in their distribution. The RapJiia, indeed, is 

 a native of both Old and New Worlds, having several species in 

 tropical Africa and Madagascar, and one in America, from the mouth 



