THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 113 



The Talipot Palm. — The talipot Coryplia timbraculi- 

 fera) is one of the most beautiful of palms with a tall mast- 

 like trunk sometimes reaching a height of over a hundred feet. 

 The great semi-circular, fan-like leaves are often as much as 

 fifteen feet in radius giving a surface of about 350 square feet. 

 The natives claim that the talipot can be used for one hundred 

 and one purposes, the principal ones being as a rain coat and 

 a sun shade. When a talipot palm reaches maturity its leaves 

 decrease in size and finally a gigantic but nearly four feet 

 in height is developed. This bud bursts open with a report 

 and an immense inflorescence unfolds itself, appearing like a 

 pyramid of cream-colored flowers rising to a height of 20 feet 

 or more above the leafy crown. Innumerable nuts follow in 

 due course and their appearance is a sign that the tree is near- 

 ing its end. It gradually begins to droop, the leaves wither 

 and in less than a year it falls dead. — Plant World. 



Plant Phyla. — Most people are familiar with the fact 

 that the genus is not the highest group in classification. Be- 

 yond the genus is the family which includes many genera as 

 the genus includes many species, and beyond the family is the 

 order containing numerous families. Beyond the order is 

 the sub-class, beyond this the class, and at the top of the list 

 the Phylum. The phylum is the name given to the great 

 groups of the plant world. By many these have been con- 

 sidered to be only four in number, namely, the Thallophyta 

 or algae and fungi, the Bryophyta or mosses and liverworts, 

 the Pteridophyta or ferns and fern allies and the Spermato- 

 phyta or flowering plants and conifers. In a recent publica- 

 tion entitled "A Synopsis of Plant Phyla" Prof. Charles E. 

 Bessey has rearranged the phyla and their lesser divisions and 

 now recognizes 12 Phyla, 34 classes, numerous orders and 636 

 families. The largest number of families is found in the An- 

 thophyta or flowering plants which contain 280 and the next 



