DATE PALM AND CHAM^EROPS. 



and forms dense tufts. Lindley states that if these 

 suckers are not permitted to grow, Chamceropfl humills 

 will rise to the height of twenty or thirty feet. In 

 Sicily and elsewhere the leaves are used for a variety 

 of purposes, and it is said that the roots have been 

 eaten in time of famine. 



On this palm Goethe made the first observations 

 which led to his famous discovery of the law that all 

 the organs of a plant are modifications of the leaf. 

 He noticed the gradual transition from the narrow 

 primordial leaves to the perfect radiating fan, but he 

 was puzzled to find out how the spathe, so different 

 in appearance, could harmonize with the theory which 

 was slowly forming in his mind. 



Goethe's palm is still carefully preserved in Padua, 

 a pilgrimage resort for all devout botanists. A series 

 of dried leaves from this Chamrerops may be seen in 

 the Goethe museum at Weimar. 



The terminal bud or " cabbage " is said to be 

 eatable. 



Fig. 4. SESTERTIUS OF VESPASIAN WITH DATE PALM. 



