PALM.fi. 



529 



1 lowers bisexual or unisexual, or polygamous. Perianth 6-parted 

 111 a double row (fig. 757); 3 outer (calyx) fleshy, or leathery 

 and persistent (figs. 752 c e, 756 c), 3 inner (corolla) often larger 

 (tig. 752 c z), and sometimes deeply connate. Stamens 6 (figs. 753 

 757), rarely 3, sometimes 00, inserted into the base of the peri- 

 anth. Ovary free, 1-3-celled, usually composed of 3 carpels, which 

 are more or less completely united (fig. 755); ovules 1-3. Fruit 



drupaceous, or nut-like (fig. 756), or baccate, often with a fibrous 

 covering. Seed with cartilaginous or horny albumen (fig. 520), which 

 is often ruminate (fig. 497), or furnished with a central or lateral 

 cavity ; embryo small, cylindrical, or flat, in a cavity of the albumen, 

 remote from the hilum (figs. 497, 520). Arborescent plants (fig. 

 115, 1), with simple, rarely branched trunks, marked with the scars 

 of the leaves, which are terminal, pinnate, or fan-shaped, with plicate 

 vernation, and parallel simple veins, and often spiny petioles. Flowers 

 on a terminal, often branched spadix, enclosed in a 1- or many-valved 

 * 



Figs. 752-756. Organs of fructification of Areca Catechu, Betel-nut Palm, to illustrate the 

 natural order Pahnse. 



Fig. 752. Unexpanded flower-bud, c e, Outer division of the perianth, c i, Inner perianth. 



Fig. 753. Diagram of the flower, showing the two verticils of the perianth, the six stamens, 

 and three abortive carpels, a, The position of the axis of inflorescence in reference to the 

 flower. 



Fig. 754. A flower deprived of its perianth, in which the stamens, e, are partly abortive, while 

 the ovary, o, is developed, s, Stigma. 



Fig. 755. Diagram of the last flower, showing the double perianth, the partially abortive, 

 stamens, and the 3-celled ovary, a, Axis of inflorescence. 



Fig. 756. Fruit,/, surrounded at its base by the persistent perianth, c. 



Fig. 757. Flower of Chamarops humilis, European Fan-Palm, seen from above. There are six 

 divisions of the perianth, six stamens, and the ovary. 



2 M 



