Arales.] 



PANDANACEiE. 



131 



mer, vnth. the half-glumaceous flowers, the simple finiit, the want of spathaceous bracts, 

 the sUt embryo, aiid the herbaceous sedgy habit of the latter, it is difficult to withhold 

 oiu' assent from the proposition to separate them. Bro^nl remarks {Prodr. 341), that 

 these have no affinity with Palms beyond their arborescent stems. But, on the contrary, 

 Cyclanthese, which, follo^\^ng Poiteau and others, I foi'merly adopted, have, with the 

 structure of Pandaneoe proper, the fohage of Palms, and are m reality a connecting link 

 between the two Oi'ders. At least, Cai'ludovica CA-idently is so, as is shown by Hooker's 

 figm'e in the Botanical IMagazine, t. 2951, and Cyclanthus seems to have no peculiarity 

 beyond a cm-ious spiral arrangement of its $ and $ flowers in alternate rows. 



Mr. Bennett has pointed out an error made by Gaudichaud, who places the embryo at 

 the apex of semitransparent albumen. He states, that it is certainly at the base, as indeed 

 Blume has shown in a beautiful figure of Freycinetia imbricata. Screw-pines are remark- 

 able among arborescent monocotyledons for their constant tendency to branch, which is 

 always effected in a dichotomous manner. Their leaves have also a uniform spiral 

 arrangement rovmd the axis, so as to give the stems a sort of corkscrew appearance 

 before the traces of the leaves are worn away. The Chandeher Tree of Guinea and St. 

 Thomas's derives its name (Pandanus Candelabrum) from tliis pecuHar tendency to 

 branching. According to Fee (1. 223), Nipa ought to be referred here, and not to 



Palms, an opinion adopted 

 by Kunth, but not by End- 

 licher. A figure of it will be 

 foimd at p. 133, in a sketch 

 of the vegetation of Palms. 

 The Tagua plant, or Vege- 

 table ivory, referred hither 

 by Endlicher and others, 

 seems to be a true Palm. 

 According to Mr. Bennett, 

 the seeds of Freycinetia and 

 Pandanus have such an 

 abundance of raphides in 

 their testa, that those crys- 

 tals are conspicuous to the 

 naked eye. 



The Screw- pines are abun- 

 dant in the Mascaren 

 Islands, especially the Isle 

 of France, where, under the 

 name of Vaquois, they are 

 found covering the sandy 

 plains. There they have 

 pecuhar means given them 

 by nature to subsist in such 

 situations in the shape of 

 strong aerial roots, which are 

 protruded from the stem, 

 and descend towards the 

 earth, bearing on their tips 

 a loose cup-like coating of 

 cellular integument, which 

 preserves their tender new- 

 ly-formed absorbents from 

 injury until they reach the 

 soil, m which they quickly 

 bury themselves, thus add- 

 ing at the same time to the 

 number of mouths by which 

 food can be extracted from 

 the unwilling earth, and acting as stays to prevent the stems from being blown about 

 by the wind. They are common in the Indian Archipelago, and in most tropical islands 

 of the Old World, but are rare in America. Ifumb. de Distr. Georjr. 198. The Frey- 

 cinetias are scrambhng plants, often of considerable stature, found in the Indian Archi- 

 pelago and adjacent islands. The Cyclanthese are exclusively American, from Peru 

 and Brazil, 



Fig. LXXXIX. 



Fig. LXXXIX.— Fruit of Freycinetia imbricata. 



k2 



