PALM HOUSE 115 



size of 51 ft. in circumference in the island of Teneriffe. 

 Several species have been grown in the Palm House in 

 recent years,* as well as the nearly allied Cordyline fragrans. 



A link with the remote geological past is afforded by the 

 Sago Palms or Cycads, which are closely related to fossil 

 plants which flourished in the Mesozoic Period, and afford us 

 living pictures of a part of that bygone vegetation. While 

 retaining very primitive characters, the extinct Bennettiteae 

 are thought to have resembled Angiosperms in having con- 

 spicuous flowers, and in having fruits which enclosed ex- 

 albuminous seeds. 



Modern Cycads inhabit the warmer regions of the continents, 

 and reach a great size and age. 



Australian Cycads grow 60 ft. high, and Dioon edule is said 

 to live for 1,000 years in Mexico. They are unique among 

 flowering plants, except the Ginkgo, in that the male cells 

 are motile like those of the Ferns. 



Cycas revoluta yields a sort of sago from its pith, though 

 the sago of commerce is usually obtained from the allied 

 C. cirdnalis. Another kind of arrowroot or sago is got from 

 Dioon edule. 



Several species of Zamia (integrifolia. Undent, loddigesii 

 (1890)) have been grown, and it was with the trunks of these 

 plants that the fossils, called " petrified birds'-nests," found in 

 Portland building stone, were first identified. 



Bowenia spectabilis^ var. serrulata^ flowered in 1899, and 

 Encephalartos horridus produced a cone in 1895. 



The remarkable Stangeria paradoxa of Natal, in its habit 

 and veined fern-like leaves, is unlike many other Cycads, and 

 was at first described as a Fern, Lomaria. 



Among the Aroids the large Amorphophallus campanulata 

 and rivieri are conspicuous; the former flowered in 1889 and 



* Dracaena godseffiana Dracaena surculosa 



rumphii thalioides 



sanderiana 



