THE MONOCOTYLEDONES 2049 



In a few species an underground rhizome is produced and others only 

 produce a tuberous stem about a foot in height. The Rattan Palms produce 

 such slender stems that they cannot support themselves and the plants live 

 as scramblers hanging over the neighbouring vegetation. 



Palm leaves are rarely simple but are usually palmately or pinnately 

 compound, with large sheathing bases. The pinnae are folded where 

 they meet the main rachis, sometimes upwards, induplicate, and some- 

 times downwards, reduplicate. These characters are used in classification. 



The family is classified as follows: 



A. Perianth of six members, enclosing the fruit 

 I. Coryphoideae 



Spadix loosely branched, often a compound panicle. Flowers single or in 

 longitudinal rows, flowering from above downwards. Carpels three; free or 

 loosely united, separating after fertilization. Fruit a berry. Leaves fan- 

 shaped or with induplicate pinnae. 



1. Phoeniceae. Leaves imparipinnate. Flowers dioecious; gynoecium 



of three carpels, only one of which usually ripens, forming a 

 berry. Seed deeply furrowed with copious endosperm. 

 In this tribe is the single genus Phoenix. There are twelve species in 

 tropical Asia and Africa. The most important is P. dactyUfera (Fig. 1989), 

 the Date Palm, which occurs in Africa and south-western Asia. It has a 

 columnar stem, densely covered with old leaf bases. The flowers are 

 dioecious and the Arabs pollinate the female flowers by hanging a spadix 

 of male flowers over the female spadix. The berries (Dates) have a hard 

 endosperm composed of cellulose. The artificial pollination of the Date 

 Palm has been known from ancient times and the ceremony is recorded on 

 Babylonian monuments. 



2. Sabaleae. The leaves are fan-shaped. Flowers polygamous with 



three free or slightly united carpels, only one of which usually 



ripens, forming a berry or a drupe with a thin endocarp. The 



endosperm is often ruminate. Chamaerups, Trachycarpiis (hig. 



1990), R/iapis, Corypha, Livistuna, Sabal, Cupernicia. 



These genera are widely distributed through the tropics except in 



tropical and southern Africa. Chamaerops humilis (Dwarf Palm) is the 



only Palm found wild in Europe. Species of Corypha are found in Indo- 



Malaya. In these Palms the gigantic inflorescence terminates the life of 



the tree. There are six species of which C. iimbracuUfera (see Vol. I, p. 835), 



the Talipot Palm, is the best known. It grows to a height of 80 ft., chiefly in 



Ceylon and south India, and the inflorescence may be 40 ft. across. The 



leaves are used as umbrellas and also for thatching. Using a metal stylus, 



the leaves can be written upon. 



Species of Sabal occur in the warmer parts of America and in the West 

 Indies. S. palmetto is employed for thatching while the woody stem is also 

 useful. The genus Copernicia contains ten species with a similar distri- 



