LESSONS IX BOTANY. 



13; 



Large districts of larJ u Andalusia are devoted at this very 

 time to the growth of the augur-cane ; not BO much with tho 

 object of obtaining sugar from thu juioe, us ol turninhiug an 

 agreeable dessert. 



The corn- hearing grancH are appropriately denominated 

 cereal-a, or plants of Ceres, tho corn-goddotm of the 

 Greeks and Romans. Amongst these wheat takes the ftrat 

 r^iik. It is more 

 nutritive thnr. 

 either of thj 

 others, and 

 IB adapted to 

 climes and 

 - of greater 

 divorsitii-s of 

 character. Bice 

 may be correctly 

 ibed as a 

 tropical water- 

 grass ; the con- 

 ditions neces- 

 sary to its de- 

 velopment being 

 a hot atmo- 

 sphere and a 

 swampy soil. 

 These conditions 

 only exist in a 

 few spots, and 

 fortunately, too, 

 for they are most 

 unfavourable to 

 the health of 

 man. 



The sugar- 

 cone frequently 

 grows to an ele- 

 vation of twenty 

 feet, and is as 

 thick as a man's 

 arm ; but these 

 dimensions sink 

 into insignifi- 

 cance when com- 

 pared with th3 

 bamboo, which 

 is a veritable 

 tree-gross, giv- 

 ing off lateral 

 branches, and 

 often rising to 

 the elevation of 

 thirty or forty 

 feet. 



SECT. CXVIL 

 CYPERACE.E, 

 OB SEDGE 

 TEIBE. 



This is a no- 

 tnral order very 

 nearly allied to 

 the grasses, from 

 which they dif- 

 fer, however, in 

 rielding no im- 

 portant product, 

 and in having 

 triangular, whereas grasses have cylindrical stems. 



SECTION CXVIII.-ABACE.E, THE ARUM TRIBE. 



These vegetables possess a very peculiar floral organisation, 

 their flowers being monoecious, or having the male and female 

 organs in separate flowers. The reader's attention should be di- 

 rected to the spadix as thepole-like floral elevation is called, pro- 

 jecting out of a peculiar sheath-like envelope (a bract), termed a 

 ipathe. This peculiarity points out an alliance between these i 

 humble denizens of swamps and hedge-rows and tho magnificent 



palm-tree*, princes of the tropical forest, as they have been ap- 

 termed. They, too, are supplied with thu peculiar 



SECTION CriX-PALMACE*. OR THE PALM TBIBE. 

 These ore not only the largest of all endogenous plant*, 

 but certain species are magnificent forest trees, which add a 

 charm to the tropical forest alu>gethtr peculiar, and famish 



* number of use- 

 ful products to 

 man oil, wine, 

 dates, cocoa- 

 nntn, hempi 

 astringent mat- 

 ter, sugar, and 

 spirit; all these 

 substances, and 

 many others, are 

 furnished bj 

 palms. 



Palms are es- 

 sentially tropi- 

 cal vegetables. 

 and all, except 

 two, are txee* 

 of consider- 

 able, often < f 

 very great size. 

 There exist, how- 

 ever, two dwarf 

 species, natives 

 of temperate 

 climes. One, the 

 Chanuerops hu- 

 mttit, grows in 

 Greece, Italy. 

 Spain, and the 

 south of France : 

 while the other, 

 Chamaerops Pal- 

 metto, is a na- 

 tive of North 

 America. 



Most tropical 

 localities pos- 

 sess each its 

 peculiar species 

 of palm - trees, 

 which ore fond 

 of their habi- 

 tats ; seldom 

 thriving when 

 for removed, 

 even though 

 their removal be 

 to a climate and 

 soil apparently 

 similar to those 

 of their native 

 region. Thera 

 are two excep- 

 tions, however, 

 to this role, and 

 they refer to two- 

 very important 

 members of the 



TSU8A PARADISIACA, THE BANANA: AN EXAMPLE OF AN ENDOGENOUS TREE. 



tribe, namely, 

 the date palm 

 and the cocoa- 

 nut palm. The latter now flourishes in almost every tropical 

 land , the former is even grown with considerable success so 

 far north as Southern Italy and Spain. At Elche, in Valencia, 

 there is a forest composed exclusively of date palms, originally 

 planted there by the Saracens. The fruit arrives at moderate 

 ripeness, but is inferior to the date of Barbary. The greater 

 number of palm-trees like the vicinity of water, and the cocoa- 

 nut palm will not grow when removed beyond a certain distance 

 from the sea , whence it happens that there are no cocoa-nut 

 palms in Central Africa, 



