AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF HORTICULTURE. 



9 



Pallenis continued. 



ones, or outer inrolucral bracts, leafy, often pungently macro- 

 nate. h. 2|ft. Orient, South Europe, and North Africa, 157tt 

 (& F. G. 898, under name of Suphthalmum tpinotum.) 



PALM. A general name for the members of the family 

 Palmos. 



PALM. A measurement equalling Sin., or the breadth 

 of the four fingers of the hand. 



PALMA-CHRISTI. See Ricinus conunnnis. 



Palmae- continued. 



same subjects in their native forests. Those who hare 

 had the pleasure of seeing these "Princes of the Vege- 

 table Kingdom," as Linnaeus rightly styled them, in 

 their native wilds, most feel that the impressions pro- 

 duced can never be effaced from the memory. While 

 some tower, when full grown, to a height much sur- 

 passing 100ft., without emitting a leaf (e.g., Ceroxylon 

 anditola), the stems of others do not exceed 2ft. 

 or 3ft. in length, and {in. in thickness ; others, 



FIG. 9. Cocos WKDDBLUXA. 



PAJ.M.E, or PALMACEJE. This large order is 

 pre-eminent, not only among monocotyledons, but in the 

 whole world of plants, for the grandeur and beauty 

 attained by many of the species. The order is also 

 pre-eminently tropical in its distribution, so that, to 

 dwellers in the cooler temperate zones, ita wonderful 

 beauty is a thing to be read of, not to be realised. 

 Palms under glass, however spacious the accommodation 

 allowed them, fail to impress the mind as do the 



Vol. ILL 



again, have the stems so short that the leaves borne 

 on the top of the stem rise out of the soil, and the 

 whole plant does not exceed 3ft. in height. These 

 dwarf Palms, however, are no less graceful than their 

 lofty allies, and are, moreover, better known than the 

 latter in European greenhouses, for which their dwarf 

 stature so well fits them. 



The stem is usually unbranched from the ground to 

 the top, but in the Hyphcene thebaica it bifurcates 



C 



