460 CYCADACE.E. (CYCAS FAMILY.) 



10. TORREYA, Arnott. 



Flowers dioecious, axillary ; the sterile ones in globose or oblong aments. 

 Anther cells 4, inserted under the peltate scale. Fertile flowers solitary, con- 

 sisting of a solitary ovule surrounded with imbricated persistent scales. Disk 

 none. Seed large, ovoid, naked. Embryo at the apex of hard ruminated 

 albumen. Cotyledons 2, linear. Trues, with whorled branches. Leaves 

 distichous, rigid, persistent. Buds scaly. 



1. T. taxifolia, Arn. Branchlets opposite, 2-ranked ; leaves linear, spiny- 

 pointed, nearly sessile, light green ; sterile aments yellow, crowded ; seed 

 ovoid, drupe-like. Kich soil, along the east bank of the Apalachicola River, 

 Middle Florida. March. A middle sized tree, with durable strong-scented 

 wood, and horizontal branches. Leaves very rigid, and pungent, 1' long- 

 Seed smooth and glaucous, similar in shape and size to a nutmeg. 



ORDER 135. CYCADACE^E. (CYCAS FAMILY.) 



Trees or shrubs, with simple trunks, increasing by a terminal bud, 

 like the Palms, and composed of a large pith, mixed with woody 

 bundles or plates, enclosed in a cylinder of woody fibre and spiral 

 vessels. Leaves pinnate, coiled in the bud, like Ferns. Flowers dire- 

 cious, destitute of calyx and corolla. Sterile flowers consisting of 1- 

 celled anthers inserted under the peltate scales of a cone-like ament. 

 Fertile flowers consisting of naked ovules inserted under the scales 

 like the sterile flowers, or on the margins of contracted leaves. Seed 

 nut-like. Embryo in the axis of the albumen. Radicle ending in a 

 long spiral cord. Cotyledons 2. 



1. ZAMIA, L. 



Flowers in cone-like aments, with the peltate scales inserted on all sides of 

 the common rachis. Anthers numerous. Ovules bv pairs, pendulous. Seed 

 roundish, drupe-like. Leaflets thickened at the base and articulated with the 

 petioles, with numerous simple veins. 



1. Z. integrifolia, Willd (CooxxiE.) Stem short, globular or ob- 

 long ; leaves petioled, spreading, with the numerous lanceolate or linear- 

 lanceolate leaflets entire, or serrate near the apex ; aments oblong, obtuse, 

 short-peduncled. Low grounds. South Florida. The stem abounds iu 

 starch, from which the Florida Arrowroot is obtained. 



