LILIACEA. : 45 
with distinct compressed filaments. Female. Calyz three-toothed. Corolla campanulate, trifid. Cup of stamens six- 
toothed, with abortive sagittate anthers. Ovary three-celled. Stigmas three, subulate, connate. Fruit one-seeded, 
coated by a mail of reversed scales. Albumen runcinated. Embryo dorsal, upon an umbilical pit. (Lindley.) 
Spectr. CuHar.—This Sago Palm is one of the smallest of its congeners, its extreme height being from twenty 
to thirty feet. The trunk is thick, straight, round, and covered with spines which are the remains of the leaf stalks. 
It is of a dark brown colour. The deaves form a crown of foliage at the summit, curving gracefully downwards, 
presenting a handsome appearance; they are large and pinnate, the leaflets being aculeate, of a deep green colour. 
The flowers are arranged in long spadices, arising from the midst of the leaves. The Jruat is a roundish nut, with 
an imbricate scaly shell. Zane 
This tree is a native of the Molucca islands, and those constituting the eastern Archipelago, where the farinaceous 
‘nutriment derived from it is employed as that yielded by the cereal grasses in the Western continents. It flourishes 
in low and moist situations; a Sago plantation or forest is a bog knee deep. The cultivated plant affords the best 
Sago, and in largest quantity. (Cramfurd.) 3 ; 
Before attaining maturity, which requires fifteen years, the stem consists of a shell about two inches thick, filled 
with spongy medullary matter; this becomes gradually absorbed, and the trunk is rendered hollow. At the proper 
period of its growth, when the medullary matter is fully developed, and has not commenced to be absorbed, the tree is 
felled and cut into billets, which are split, in order to admit the extraction of the pith. From this the fecula is washed 
out, and deposits from the water upon standing. This, while moist, is passed through a sieve, and moulded into 
grains. When the Sago is simply dried after deposit from the water, it affords Sagomeal. The granulated is in two 
forms, Common or Brown, and Pearl. 
‘The granules of Sago are rotund, or oval, but in consequence of the violence done to them by heat in a moist 
state, are lacerated and frequently jagged. Sago hasno odour; its taste is mucilaginous. It is highly nutritious, and 
is prepared as tapioca is, for use. 
Sago appears not to have been known to the ancients. Its introduction dates from the prosecution of maritime 
enterprise in the East by modern nations. 
PLATE LXXXVIII.—Represents the plant in leaf, the flowers and fruit. 
LILIACER. 
LINDLEY. 
THE LILY TRIBE. 
Essewrtan Cuar.—Calyz and Corolla confounded, coloured, regular, occasionally cohering in atube. Stamens 
‘nserted into the sepals and petals. Anthers opening inwards. Ovary superior, three-celled, many-seeded. Style 
ae Stigma simple or three-lobed. Fruit succulent, or dry and capsular, three-celled. Seeds packed upon one 
another, im one or two rows. Embryo with the same direction as the seed, in the axis of fleshy albumen, or uncertain 
oO and position. Roots fibrous, or fasciculate. Stem none, except a bulb, or tuberous, or creeping, or erect, 
arborescent. Leaves with parallel veins, membranous, not articulated with the stem; either sessile, or with a narrow 
Y petiole. (Lindley. ) : 
th Some active medicines are yielded by this tribe of plants, but the medicinal properties are not uniform, nor do 
ey depend upon one principle. | 
VOL. II. 19 
