USES OF LEAVES. 151 



cavity being furnished with a moveable lid apparently 

 designed to exclude the rain, there can be no doubt that 

 the fluid it contains is derived from the vessels of the 

 leaf and not froni any foreign source. 



Frond. — When the leaf and stem are so incorporated 

 as to form but one organ, whose parts do not even in 

 decay spontaneously separate, they present by their 

 union an example of the Frond. Such examples are 

 rare, unless we descend to the inspection of the inferi- 

 or classes of plants, and its various arrangements as 

 exhibited by them will be noticed in a subsequent 

 Chapter. 



As applicable to the more perfect plants, it is pecul- 

 iar to the Palms, and the tall Palmetto of the south, will 

 serve to exemplify this singular arrangement. But its 

 application to them has of late grown into disuse, and 

 as the stalk of the Palm, formerly denominated the 

 stipe, now ranks with stems, so must its peculiar foliage 

 be regarded as a variety of leaves. 



