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10 THE DICTIONARY OF GARDENING, 
Palmz—continued. 
several times, and it also does so in a few others. 
Once formed, the trunk of a Palm increases in height, 
but not in thickness, and it tapers upwards almost from 
the base. In most, the stems rise erect, or are only 
slightly curved; but in certain weak-stemmed genera, 
the stems lie on the soil, or twine among the branches 
of adjacent trees for support (e g., Calamus, Desmoncus, 
K.). The outer surface of the trunk in Palms is 
usually very hard, while the centre is soft, and con- 
sists of a mass of thin-walled cells, amid which run the 
woody bundles. The central mass can be easily re- 
moved, leaving a hollow tube. The leaves vary no less 
than the stems; but they belong to two leading forms, 
viz., the feather-veined, in which the chief veins of the 
leaf-blade arise from the sides of a long midrib (see 
Fig. 9), and the fan-veined, in which the midrib is so 
short that, at first sight, the veins all seem to arise 
from the top of the leaf-stalk, and to spread out like 
BANNIT 
NA, 
FIG. 10. LIVISTONA AUSTRALIS. 
the ribs of a fan through the leaf-blade (see Fig. 10 
both forms, the blade may be aieri aini a 50 
end, where there are always two lobes, separated by a 
division down to the midrib; or it may be divided par- 
tially, or down to the midrib. along each side, and 
these segments, or pinne, may be few (as in Fig. 11) 
or many (see Fig. 9), and they may themselves be 
divided into smaller segments, as in Caryota (see Fig. 
r length, the leaves vary between less than 
lft. (e. 9., in species of Malortiea) and a total of nearly 
Palme continued. 
40ft. (as in the leaves of young plants of Maximiliana 
regia). The undivided lamina may, in a few species, 
reach a size of nearly 30ft. long by 5ft. broad (e. g., in 
Manicaria saccifera). The leaves in the very young 
plants of almost all species of Palms are undivided, 
Pe wits 
Fig. 11. CHAMDOREA SARTORII, 
except at the tip, and the species are remarkably alike, 
in most cases, while young. 
The inflorescence assumes the form of a spadix, 
simple or branched, and frequently very much branched. 
The forms shown in Figs. 11 and 12 are of frequent 
occurrence. The spadix is inclosed in spathes, usually 
two in number; the outer, or lower, is short, and open 
at the tip; the inner is usually much larger, sometimes 
several feet long, woody or leathery, and, for a con- 
siderable time, entirely incloses the spadix. In some 
genera, there are from three- to six spathes, only the 
inner of which is complete; and, in the tribe Calamee, 
the spathes are replaced by a large number of short, 
tubular, incomplete spathelle, ranged all along the 
peduncle and branches. The spadix always bears 
numerous inconspicuous flowers, which, in by far the 
greater number of species, are unisexual, not often herm- 
aphrodite. Individual plants, or individual spadices in 
many species, are either male or female; but, in most, the 
same spadix bears flowers of both sexes, the females 
usually lower down, the males nearer the tips of the 
branches ; or they may be associated in various ways, 
e.g., in Cocoinœ, Geonoma, &c.; there is frequently a 
male flower at each side of a female, so that they stand 
in groups of three. They are often sunk in pits in the 
fleshy spadix, or they may be stalked; the flowers are 
almost always quite regular in structure. Frequently, 
the abortive male organs are found in female flowers, 
and vice versd. The stamens are usually six, but vary 
