ORDER 131. ARACE^E. 



667 



thick, obtuse ; berry globular. Woods along the coast, Ga. and Fla. (scarce N. 

 to the Cape Fear R.). One specimen in the street, front of the P. 0., Charleston. 

 Caudex 20 to 50f high, usually enlarged upwards, and rugged above with the 

 split bases of the old leaf-stalks. The majestic leaves are all terminal, from 1 bud, 

 and 6 to lOf long. Spadix from the same bud, which in early spring is tender 

 and nutritious like the cabbage. The use of the leaves in hat-work, &c., is well 

 known. - Jn., Jl. (ChamEerops, MX.) 



2 S. Adansoni Guernsent. DWARF PALMETTO. Caudex prostrate ; Ivs. rigid, 

 glaucous ; petioles shorter, naked ; spadix strict, glabrous, branchlets remote-flow- 

 ered ; style thick, obtuse, scarcely shorter than the petals ; berry depressed-globous. 

 In low, sandy swamps, along the coast, Neuse river to the Apalachicola, &c., 

 often in wide patches. Spadix slender, about as high (3 to 4f) as the leaves. A 

 compound branch issues from each alternate sheath. Fls. numerous, 1J" long, 

 calyx half as long. Berry bluish black, 3" diam. Jn. Aug. (S. pumila Walt.) 



3 S. serrulata R. & S. Caudex creeping ; petioles aculeate-serrate ; lamina flabel- 

 iform, 10-12-cleft; spadix thick, flexuous, branchlets densely greyish pubescent; 

 style very sknder, subulate ; berry oblong-ovoid. Flat pine barrens, S. Car. to 

 Fla., common. The prostrate rhizomes attain a diam. of 4 to 6', creeping many 

 feet. Leaves 2 or 3f, in dense masses, affording nice shelter for rattlesnakes ! 

 Sheaths of the spadix long (2 3'), loose. Fls. rather close on the branchlets, 

 2" long, calyx J as long, stylo single, tapering to a setaceous point. Berry dark 

 blue, 5 diam. JL, Aug. 



3. MIXIMA. Every way smaller ; Ivs. about 7-cleft. E. Fla. (S. min. Nutt.) 

 2. CHAM-&TROPS, L. BLUE PALMETTO. (Gr.%a,tta/,on the ground, 

 pwi/j, a bush.) Fls. polygamo-dioecious, sessile or short pedicellate; 

 calvx 3- parted, cor. (inner perianth) 3-petalcd, valvate in bud ; stam. 6 

 or 9 ; fil. connate at base, anth. oblong or linear-oblong, cordate; ova- 

 ries 3, distinct, stigmas 3, sessile, subulate, berries 3, or by abortion 

 fewer, 1-seeded. Palms acaulescent. Lvs. palmately many-cleft, segm. 

 split at apex with no intervening threads. Petioles aculeate at base 

 and edo;e. Spadix dense-flowered, fls. yellowish. 



C. Hystrix Fraser. Caudex low, making offsets at base ; petioles spiny ia 

 the axils ; spadix very short ; drupes ovoid, apex oblique, rather large, hirsute. 

 In clayey soils around Savannah, to Fla. Caudex creeping, becoming several 

 inches in diam. In the axils of the sheathing leaf-stalk is a thick, matted, brown, 

 canvas-like stipule, and rigid, sharp, needle-shaped spines 3 to 6' long. Spadix 

 enclosed ia the radical sheaths, bearing a dense mass of hairy, brown drupes 6" 

 in length. Jn. Aug. 



ORDER CXXXI. ARACE^E. AROIDS. 



Herbs with a creeping rhizome or corm, and an acrid or pungent juice, with the 

 leaves simple or compound, often veiny, and the flowers mostly diclinous and naked. 

 Inflorescence a spadix, dense-flowered, naked or 

 mostly surrounded with a large spathe. Perianth 

 none, or of 4 to G scales. Stamens hypogynous, 

 with ovate-extrorse anthers. Ovary free, stigma 

 sessile. Fruit baccate or dry, seeds albuminous, 

 embryo axial. Fig. 91, 201. 



Genera 46, fipecies 240, abundant in tropical regions, more 

 rare in temperate, one only, Calla palustris, extending to the 

 northern frigid zone. 



Properties. An acrid, volatile principle pervades the 

 order, which is, in some instances, so concentrated as to 

 become poisonous. The cornis and rhizomas abound also in 

 starch, which in some cases when the volatile acridity is ex- 

 pelled in drying or cooking, is edible and nutricious, as in 

 Colocasia. &c. 



Fig. 709. Calla palustris, its spathe, spadix and flowers. 

 ft. One of the flowers, consisting of an ovary surrounded by 

 six stamens, c, Cross section of the ovary. 



