PALM HOUSE 113 



No. 8. THE PALM HOUSE 



Although the dimensions of the Palm House are not such 

 as to admit of those magnificent examples of tropical vegeta- 

 tion which figure in some public and private collections, yet 

 amongst its contents are specimens which may serve to convey 

 some idea of the mode of growth and habits of that noble 

 tribe of plants, the Monarchs, as Von Martius calls them, 

 of the Kingdom of Nature to which they belong. 



Some Palms which will endure a cooler temperature are 

 seen in the Conservatory where examples of the Fan 

 Palm and others are exhibited, A moist soil is a necessity 

 for the well-being of palms indeed, in their native habitat 

 they are often to be seen standing in water. A Date Palm 

 cannot have too much ; the roots, indeed, show a remarkable 

 resemblance to parts of aquatic plants, in being full of gas 

 spaces,* and similar spaces have even been found in the 

 stems of fossil Cretaceous Palms. 



Palms are classified in six tribes by Hooker : 



i. Areceae, including Areca catechu, the Betel-nut Palm, 

 the chewing of which gives a fragrance to the 

 breath and a red hue to the lips and mouth ; A. 

 glandiformis ; Pinanga kuhlii; Kentia sanderiana ; 

 the Australian Archontophoenix cunninghamia, com- 

 monly known as Seaforthia elegans in this country ; 

 Dictyosperma fibrosum; Deckenia nobilis f \ Howea 

 fosteriana (Orchid House) ; Bentinckia nicobarica. 



ii. Phoenix is the only genus of the second tribe. The 

 Date Palm, dactylifera, is interesting because in 

 the most remote antiquity it was cultivated, and 

 conveyed to those early " arboriculturists " some 

 dim notion of the distinction of sexes amongst 

 plants. Phoenicia was named after it, and 



* Drabble, "Roots of Palms," "Trans. Linn. Soc," 2nd series, vi. 

 p. 427. 



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