1905.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. ^^1 



THE HOUR-GLASS STEMS OF THE BERMUDA PALMETTO. 



BY JOHN W. HARSHBERGER, PH.D. 



The only indigenous palm of the Bermuda islands is Sa(,ai Biacfc- 

 tJ^Z Gla.ebrook. It grows in all kinds of soil, ^^^f^^^^fj^^ 

 rides, on the rocky shores in wind-swept s, nations and m toe mland 

 ma,.hes, such as Pembroke and Devonshire '"^^"ut islets of 

 shores of these islands, in the eolian rocks and on the smaller islet^ o 



the Bermuda archipelago, the tree is "-^1 ^ f ^'■''''; *t' "n 

 crown of yellowish-green leaves. In noh sod *he crow^^s a,ge and 

 the tree usually reaches a considerable diameter (Plate XLXl, tig. 1»). 



wLHound in the inland brackish --•;-. f;-"'-,:,*::!.-', 

 flexuous resembling that of tlie coconut palm (fig. 22) . i he hei nt oi 

 th Zrud: palmltto varies from fifteen to « Jeet in goo soi , 

 in the marshes, it grows from thirty-five to forty fee wh le it. c 

 cumterence varies with edaphic conditions. ^^ 8°"^ ^J^, "^ 

 cmiference ranges from forty to fifty inches; in the marshes sixteen 

 w rinch^s. The breadth of the leaf is approximately six to 

 eW t feet and the length of the petiole three to seven feet^ 



The horn-glass constrictions of the trunk, or caudex, is a uniq 

 , V . nfthTs calm Mr Oswald A. Reade, in communication with 

 ^rrselnoote says of them:' "In many individuals the stem 

 W want t" oth rs a' small stem has apparently been the resul o 

 many vel s' growth, evidenced by the extreme roughness of the 



Zl hotr-glass contractions and decay The hour-glass con- 



atm mentioned above are very curious; in one which X measured 

 he c'cuJerence at one foot from the ground was thirty inches; at 

 ,wo" et "XTnches, eight inches only; and at three feet, twenty-five 

 ;ch In other stl.nttd individuals the stem appears comc^^and 



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The obiecrof thispaper^thereforej^^ 

 any, I, P- 71. 



