146 MONOCOTYLEDONS 



The Wild Date Palm {Phoenix sylvestris; Kan. Icala) grows 

 in many parts of India. Its leaves are used for mats, and the 

 fleshy axis of the inflorescence yields a kind of toddy> 



Another Palm, fairly common in our jungles, is the Rattan 

 Cane Palm (Calamus rotang; Kan. Betta). The midrib of the 

 pinnate leaf of some species is produced in a very long slender 

 drooping flagellum, resembling the slender lash of a whip. This 

 is armed with recurved thorns on the under-side. The flagella 

 fasten the leafy shoot of the Ilattan stem to the branches of 

 jungle trees. When the tops of the latter are reached, the leaf- 

 less part of the stem glides down, as the shoot grows, and hangs 

 from the branches of the trees in huge slings. The stem of the 

 llattan can thus reach the enormous length of more than seven 

 hundred feet. — The Cane is split and manufactured into numer- 

 ous articles of utility. The shining outer coating of the Rattan 

 Cane is a secretion from the plant, and consists mostly of a 

 mineral substance, called silex, which is nearly the same as 

 quartz. By bending the Cane it comes off in little, thin, trans- 

 parent flakes. 



33. The Arum Family 



(Aroideae). 



Perennial acrid herbs. Leaves alternate, net-veined, often variegat- 

 ed. Flowers unisexual, monoecious, sessile, small, arranged on a 

 spadix within a spathc. Perianth usually nil. Stamens two to six. 

 Ovary one to three-celled. Fruit a berry. 



The Taro Plant (Colocasia antiquortun). 



{Kan. Kesu. Mai. Cempu. Tarn. STmaikilangu.) 



This })l;iHt is an inhabitant of shady and moist places. It is 

 often cultivated for the leaf-stalks and tu])ers, which are eaten 

 as vegetables. 



1. The peltate, arrow-head Leaves arise, not from a stem, but 

 from a truncated tuber, and are, therefore, called radical. They 

 are large and glabrous (having no hairs). As they grow during 



