ENDOGENOUS OR MONOCOTYLEDONOTJS PLANTS. 479 



Anthers introrse. Styles united into one. 



Terrestrial, not spathaceous. Flower regular. LILIACE/E, p 487. 



Aquatic, spathaceous. Flower oftener irregular. PONTEDERIACE.E, p. 488. 



Anthers extrorse (except Tofieldia). MELANTHACE.E, p. 488. 



Perianth glurnaceous. JUNCACE^E, p. 489. 



Group 6. Flowers with a double or imbricated perianth : the exterior herba- 

 ceous or glumaceous ; the inner petaloid, free from the one- to three-celled 

 ovary. Seeds orthotropous ; the embryo at the extremity of the albumen 

 farthest from the hilum. 



Flowers perfect. Sepals herbaceous. COMMELYNACE./E, p. 490. 



Flowers perfect, capitate. Sepals and bracts glumaceous. XYRIDACE.&, p. 490. 



Flowers monoecious or dioecious, capitate. ERIOCAULONACE^E, p. 490. 



Group 7. Flowers imbricated with bracts (glumes) and disposed in spikelets; 

 the proper perianth none or rudimentary. Ovary one-celled, one-ovuled. 

 Embryo at the extremity of the albumen next the hilum. 



Sheaths closed. Glume or bract single. CYPERACE^E, p. 490. 



Sheaths open. Glumes in pairs. GRAMINEJE, p. 491. 



898. Ord, Palma; (Palms). Chiefly trees, with unbranched cylin- 

 drical trunks, growing by a terminal bud. Leaves large, clustered, 

 fan-shaped or pinnated, plaited in vernation. Flowers small, per- 

 fect or polygamous, mostly with a double (6-merous) perianth ; 

 the stamens usually as many as the petals and sepals together. 

 Ovary 1 3-celled, with a single ovule in each cell. Fruit a drupe 

 or berry. Seeds with cartilaginous albumen, often hollow ; the 

 embryo placed in a small separate cavity. Ex. Palms, the most 

 majestic race of plants within the tropics, and of the highest value 

 to mankind, are scarcely found beyond the limits of these favored 

 regions. The Date-tree (Phoenix dactylifera, the leaves of which 

 are the Palms of Scripture), a native of Northern Africa, endures 

 the climate of the opposite shore of the Mediterranean : while in 

 the New World, Chamserops Palmetto (Fig. 166), the only arbo- 

 rescent species of the United States, and one or two low Palms with 

 a creeping caudex (Dwarf Palmettoes), extend from Florida to 

 North Carolina. Palms afford food and raiment, wine, oil, wax, 

 flour, sugar, salt, thread, weapons, utensils, and habitations. The 

 Cocoa-nut (Cocos nucifera) is perhaps the most important, as well 

 as the most widely diffused species. Besides its well-known fruit, 

 and the beverage it contains, the hard trunks are employed in the 

 construction of huts ; the terminal bud (as in our Palmetto and 

 other Cabbage Palms) is a delicious article of food ; the leaves are 

 used for thatching, for making hats, baskets, mats, fences, for 



