CXXXII. PALM^. 391 



styled by Linnaeus, tlie Princes of the Vegetable Kingdom. They usually 

 rise with a simple, rarely branched trunk, sometimes to the height of over 

 100 feet, bearing on its summit a crown of large, pinnate or llabelliform, 

 branch-like leaves, whicli are homctimes 10-20 feet long. Only two of this 

 Order come within the limits of our Flora. 



Trunk simple ; leaves pinnate 1. PncENix. 



Trunk branched ; leaves palmate-flabelliform 2. Hyph-ENE. 



1. PHCENIX, Linn. 



Flowers dioecious, sessile on a branching spadix, girt with a 

 simple spathe. Outer perianth urceolate, 3-toothed ; inner 3- 

 parted. Stamens 6 or 3 ; filaments very short, scarcely any ; 

 anthers linear. Female : Ovary of 3, separate carpels, of 

 which only one matures ; stigmas hooked. Drupe 1-seeded ; 

 seed with a longitudinal furrow on one side. Embryo dorsal. 

 —Endl. Gen. n. 1763. 



The well-known Date-Palms. — The only Cape species, P. reclinafa, is a 

 graceful Palm, with erect or reclining stems, and pinnate leaves. It grows 

 near the coast in the Eastern district, and comes as far west as " George." 



2. HYPHJENE, G^rtn. 



Flowers dioecious, on a distichously-branched, imperfectly 

 vaginate spadix. Outer and inner perianth both 3-parted. 

 Stamens 6 ; filaments free ; anthers linear, basifixed. Fe- 

 male : Staminodia 6, rudimentary. Ovary 3- rarely 2-celled ; 

 stigmas 3-2, sessile. Drupe abortively simple or 2-3-lobed, 

 with a fibrous sarcocarp and ligneous putamen. Albumen 

 horny, hollow. Embryo vertical. — £)idl. Gen. n. 1748. 



The famous Douni Palm, or *' Gingerbread-nut Tree " of Nubia, is the 

 type of the genus ; a second species has recently been observed to the north 

 of Natal. Trunk in age repeatedly forked. Leaves palmate-flabelliform. 



Order CXXXIII. LILIACEiE. 



Flowers bisexual, regular or subirregular. Perianth corol- 

 loid, deciduous or marcescent-persistent, 6-parted or lobed ; 

 segments 2-seriate, separate or united in a tube or bell-shaped 

 corolla, with a 6-fid limb, frequently secreting honey at base. 

 Stamens 6, hypogynous or perigynous, rarely by abortion 

 fewer ; occasionally a corona or row of barren stamens exterior 

 to the fertile ones. Anthers introrse, erect or versatile, 2- 

 celled. Ovary more or less perfectly 3-celled ; ovules either 

 solitary, few or many; style single ; stigma simple or rarely 

 3-parted. Fruit capsular, 3-celled, loculicidally 3-valved. 

 Seeds with membranous, crustaceous or rarely fleshy skins ; 

 albumen fleshy, copious ; embryo axile.— A vast Order, of very 



