PALilAS. (PALM FAMILY.) 813 



on the hranclies of a sjmclix, enclosed hefore floioering in a 

 spathe, and a ])erianth of fleshy divisions in two rows. 

 Staminate floioers : stamens six, in two rows, rarely 3, fila- 

 ments free or connate at base. Pistillate flovaers: orary 

 free, carpels 8, either distinct or coalesced. Ovule 1 (rarely 

 2), erect, orthotropons, or more or less anatropons. Styles 

 very short, as many as carpels or cells. Fruit a berry or 

 drupe, 3-lobed, 3-ceiled, or by abortion 1-celled and 1-seeded, 

 sarcocarp fleshy or fibrous, endocarp parchment-like, fibrous 

 or woody. Seed filling the cell, the testa usually coalesced 

 with the endocarp. Albumen copious, cartilaginous or woody, 

 usually occupying the folds of the testa. Embryo various — 

 An immense tropical order, represented in our district by 

 two genera. 



I. PHCENIX. Tall, unbranched trees, with pinnate leaves and edible fruits (dates). 



9. HYPHiENE. Trees with forked branches, palmate leaves, and fruits like small cocoa- 

 nuts, with fibrous sarcocarp enclosing a stone of woody texture. Albumen 

 of ivoiy hardness, hollow. 



1. PHOEXIX, L. Palm. NaklX. 



Flowers dioecious, on a much branched spadix, surrounded before 

 opening by a simple spathe. Staminate flowers : calyx cup-shaped, o- 

 toothed, corolla with 3, valvate petals. Stamens 6 or 3, anthers nearly 

 sessile. Pistillate flowers : calyx cup-shaped, 3-toothed. Corolla of 3, 

 imbricated petals. Ovaries 3, ovate-globultir, distinct, stigmas sessile, 

 hooked. Fruit a date, 1-seeded, sarcocarp soft, edible, seed with a 

 longitudinal groove, horny albumen, and dorsal or subbasilar embryo. 



Ph. dactylifera, L. Date. Nal:hl. Balh. 5 10 to 15 or more. 

 Leaves glaucescent, oblong-lanceolate in outline, 2-3 metres long, o'aclm 

 (jarid), thick, semiterete, pinnce lanceolate-linear, acuminate, folded 

 lengthwise. Branches of spadix long, flexuous; dates sessile, ovate to 

 elliptico-cylindrical — Spring — Common, especially southward. Culti- 

 vated in many varieties. 



2. HYPHiEA'E, Gaertu. DorM Palm. Dim. 



Flowers dioecious on a spadix with two ranked branches, each branch 

 imperfectly enclosed in a spathe, cylindrical, beset with densely im- 

 bricated, hairy scales. Flowers small, solitary in axils of scales, sub- 

 sessile. Staniinatefloicers : calyx d-iparted. Corolla of 3 petals. Stamens 

 G, with free filaments. Anthers ovate, bifid at base, fixed by their 

 back. Pistillate floicers; calyx of 3 sepals. Corolla of 3 petals. Sta- 

 mens rudimentary. Ovary 3-2-celled, stigmas 3-2, sessile. Drupe, by 

 abortion simple, 1-celled, rarely 3-2-lobed, sarcocarp fibrous, stone 

 woody. Albumen hornj^, hollow. Embryo at tip, vertical. 



H. Tliebaica, Del. Bum. Gingerbread Tree. 5 5 to 10; 

 trunk and branches forked, ringed. Leaves crowded at ti ps of branches, 

 palmate-fan-shaped, 1 broad, the divisions 20-25, linear-lanceolate, 

 connate to near tip, with pendulous threads at their angles; the petiole 

 shorter than the limb, beset on either side with hooked spines. Spadix 

 appearing among leaves, the branches resembling catkins, .1 to .I5 



