10 



THE DICTIONARY OF GARDENING, 



Palmse continued 



several times, and it also docs so in a few others. 

 Once formed, the trunk of a Palm increases in height, 

 but not in thickness, and it tapers upwards almost from 

 the base. In most, the stems rise erect, or are only 

 slightly curved; but in certain weak-stemmed genera, 

 the stems lie on the soil, or twine among the branches 

 of adjacent trees for support (e g., Calamus, Desmoncus, 

 &c.). The outer surface of the trunk in Palms is 

 usually very hard, while the centre is soft, and con- 

 sists of a mass of thin-walled cells, amid which run the 

 woody bundles. The central mass can be easily re- 

 moved, leaving a hollow tube. The leaves vary no less 

 than the stems; but they belong to two leading forms, 

 viz., the feather-veined, in which the chief veins of the 

 leaf-blade arise from the sides of a long midrib (see 

 Fig. 9), and the fan-veined, in which the midrib is so 

 short that, at first sight, the veins all seem to arise 

 from the top of the leaf-stalk, and to spread out like 



FIG. 10. LlVISTONA AUSTRALIS. 



the ribs of a fan through the leaf-blade (see Fig. 10). In 

 both forms, the blade may be undivided, except at the 

 end, where there are always two lobes, separated by a 

 division down to the midrib; or it may be divided par- 

 tially, or down to the midrib along each side, and 

 these segments, or pinnae, may be few (as in Fig. 11) 

 or many (see Fig. 9), and they may themselves be 

 divided into smaller segments, as in Caryota (see Fig. 

 12). In length, the leaves vary between less than 

 1ft. (e.g., in species of Malortiea) and a total of nearly 



Palmse continued. 



40ft. (as in the leaves of young plants of Maximiliana 

 regia). The undivided lamina may, in a few species, 

 reach a size of nearly 30ft. long by 5ft. broad (e.g., in 

 Manicaria saccifera). The leaves in the very young 

 plants of almost all species of Palms are undivided, 



FIG. 11. CHAM.EDOREA SARTORII. 



except at the tip, and the species are remarkably alike, 

 in most cases, while young. 



The inflorescence assumes the form of a spadix, 

 simple or branched, and frequently very much branched. 

 The forms shown in Figs. 11 and 12 are of frequent 

 occurrence. The spadix is inclosed in spathes, usually 

 two in number ; the outer, or lower, is short, and open 

 at the tip; the inner is usually much larger, sometimes 

 several feet long, woody or leathery, and, for a con- 

 siderable time, entirely incloses the spadix. In some 

 genera, there are from three to six spathes, only the 

 inner of which is complete; and, in the tribe Calamece, 

 the spathes are replaced by a large number of short, 

 tubular, incomplete spathellao, ranged all along the 

 peduncle and branches. The spadix always bears 

 numerous inconspicuous flowers, which, in by far the 

 greater number of species, are unisexual, not often herm- 

 aphrodite. Individual plants, or individual spadices in 

 many species, are either male or female ; but, in most, the 

 same spadix bears flowers of both sexes, the females 

 usually lower down, the males nearer the tips of the 

 branches ; or they may be associated in various ways, 

 e.g., in Cocoince, Geonoma, &c. ; there is frequently a 

 male flower at each side of a female, so that they stand 

 in groups of three. They are often sunk in pits in the 

 fleshy spadix, N or they may be stalked; the flowers are 

 almost always quite regular in structure. Frequently, 

 the abortive male organs are found in female flowers, 

 and vice versa. The stamens are usually six, but vary 



