THE MONOCOTYLEDONES 



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pillar-like stems with a dense, leafy crown with large axillary inflorescences. 

 Several of the species furnish wood or fibre and the juice is used in the 

 preparation of wine. The fruits are edible. 



2. Metroxyleae. Leaves imparipinnate and reduplicate. Raphia, 

 Metroxylofi, and Calamus. 



The genus Raphia contains eight species, mostly in Africa. R. vinifera 

 (Fig. 1992) is the West African Wine Palm. R. taedigera grows in the lower 

 Amazon region. In R. rujfia (Madagascar) roots develop out of the 



Fig. 1992. — Raphia Linifeia. Fruit. 



old leaf bases and turn upwards. They are said to function as pneumato- 

 phores. There are seven species of Metroxylon distributed through the 

 East Indies from Siam to New Guinea. The most important are M. 

 rumphii and M. laeve, both of which are known as the Sago Palms, 

 They are extensively cultivated in Malaya. They are large trees which die 

 after producing their inflorescences and regenerate from the rhizome. The 

 fruits take three years to ripen. Sago is obtained by cutting down the trees 

 when flowering occurs, and crushing and washing the pith from which the 

 sago is prepared. 



The genus Calamus is a large genus with some 280 species widely 

 distributed in the tropics. They are mostly leaf climbers with thin reedy 

 stems. The mode of climbing is by means of strong, recurved spines, which 

 replace the pinnae on the upper part of the leaf rachis. The stems often 

 grow to enormous lengths of five or six hundred feet. The stripped stems 

 are used in making rattan canes which have many uses, as, for example, 

 chair bottoms, baskets, and even cables. 



