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rter the majestic aspect of their towering stems, crowned by a sun more gigan- 

 tic foliage ; the character of. grandeur which they impress 'upon the landscape 

 of the countries they inhabit ; their immense value to mankind, as affording 

 food, and raiment, and numerous objects of economical importance ; or, finally, 

 the prodigious developement of those organs by which their race is to be propa- 

 gated. A single spatha of the Date contains about 12,000 stammiferous flow- 

 ers ; Alfonsia amygdalina has been computed to have 207,000 in a spathe, or 

 600,000 upon a single individual ; while every bunch of the Seje Palm of the 

 Oronoco bears 8000 fruit. They are very uniform in the botanical characters 

 by which they are distinguished, especially in their fleshy colourless 6-partcd 

 flowers, enclosed in spathes, their minute embryo lying in the midst of albu- 

 men remote from the hilum, and their arborescent stems with rigid, plaited or 

 pinnated, inarticulated leaves, called fronds ; but their aspect and habits are 

 extremely various. To use the words of the most accomplished traveller of 

 our own, or any age : — "While some (Kunthia montana, Aiphanes Praga, 

 Oreodoxa frigida) have trunks as slender as the graceful reed, or longer than 

 the longest cable, (Calamus Rudentnm, 500 feet), others (Jubaea spectabilis 

 and Cocos butyracea) are 3 and even 5 feet thick ; while some grow collected 

 in groups (Mauritia flexuosa, Chamaerops humilis), others (Oreodoxa regia, 

 Martinezia caryotasfolia) singly dart their slender trunks into the air; while 

 some have a low caudex (Attalea amygdalina), others exhibit a towering stem 

 160-180 feet high (Ceroxylon andicola) ; and while one part flourishes in the 

 low valleys of the tropics, or on the declivities of the lower mountains, to the 

 elevation of 900 feet, another part consists of mountaineers bordering upon 

 the limits of perpetual snow." To which may be added, that while many 

 have a cylindrical undivided stem, the Doom Palm of Upper Eg} r pt, and the 

 Hyphaene coriacea are remarkable for their dichotomous repeatedly divided 

 trunk. In botanical affinity they approach as nearly to Junceee as to any or- 

 der, but they can hardly be said to be closely allied to those at present known. 

 The relation that was supposed to exist between them and Cycadeas was in- 

 ferred from inaccurate or imperfect considerations ; and there is nothing in Pan- 

 daneae that can approximate that order, except their dichotomous trunks. The 

 Calamus genus, and the siliceous secretions of their leaves, indicate an affinity 

 with Gramineae, which would hardly be anticipated, if the grasses of our Eu- 

 ropean meadows are compared with the Cocoa Nuts of the Indies, but which 

 becomes more apparent when the Bamboo is placed by the side of the cane. 



Geography. Von Martius, the great illustrator of this noble family, speaks 

 thus of their habits and geographical arrangement : — " Palms, the splendid 

 offspring of Tellus and Phoebus, chiefly acknowledge as their native . land 

 those happy regions seated within the tropics, where the beams of the latter 

 forever shine. Inhabitants of either world, they hardly range beyond 35° in 

 the southern, or 40° in the northern hemisphere. Particular species scaicely 

 extend beyond their own peculiar and contracted limits, on which account there 

 are few countries favourable for their production in which some local and pecu- 

 liar species are not found : the few that are dispersed over many lands are 

 chiefly Cocos nucifera, Acrocomia sclerocarpa, and Borassus flabelliformis. It 

 is probable that the number of species thus scattered over the face of nature 

 will be found to amount to 1000 or more. Of these not a few love the humid 

 banks of rivulets and streams, others occupy the shores of the ocean, and some 

 ascend into alpine regions ; some collect into dense forests, others spring up 

 singly, or in clusters over the plains." Progr. 6. But if this statement be true 

 as to the probable number of Palms, how little can be now known of then- 

 structure, seeing that not more than 175 are at this moment described, of 

 which 119 are South American, 14 African, and 42 Indian. The testimony 

 of Von Martius is, however, confirmed hy» Humboldt, who also asserts that 



