Taxus.] LXXVI. CONIFERS. 541 



Nepal the houses are decorated with the green twigs at religious festivals. The 

 bark {sang, sangha) is exported to Ladak from Kunawar, to be mixed with tea, 

 and to be used as a red dye. In Kunawar a decoction of it is administered for 

 rheumatism. The branches are used to support earth roofs. The leaves Qrirmi) 

 are exported to the plains of the Panjab, and used medicinally as a stomachic ; 

 in Europe they are considered poisonous, but not everywhere nor under all 

 circumstances. Goats, rabbits, and sheep eat them freely (Selby, Brit. Forest 

 Trees, 374). The berries are sweet and harmless, and are eaten by the natives 

 of the N.W. Himalaya. 



Podocarpus neriifolia, Don ; DC. Prodr. xvi. ii. 514, is a large evergreen 

 tree with somewhat whorled branches and alternate, coriaceous, linear-lanceo- 

 late leaves with a prominent midrib, 4-5 in. long ; male catkins axillary, cylin- 

 dric, antheriferous scales with 2 anther-cells ; fruit axillary, fleshy, 1-seeded, 

 ovoid, on a fleshy receptacle. 



Nepal, Sikkim, Kasia, ascending to 3000 ft. A remarkable tree in Burma, 

 nearly allied to it, which S. Kurz, however, refers to P. bracteata, Blume, of the 

 Indian Archipelago, grows in the evergreen forests of the Bithoko range, be- 

 tween the Yunzaleen and Sal ween rivers, above 2000 ft., where I found it in 

 March 1859, also on the coast-range of the Tenasserim provinces. It is called 

 Thit min, the Prince of trees, in Burma. The wood is close-grained and highly 

 prized in Burma. 



Order LXXVII. PALMJE. 



Stem solid, either an underground perennial rhizome, producing flower- 

 stalks and tufts of leaves, or more commonly above ground, erect, scandent 

 or supported by other trees and bushes. The stem above ground is, with 

 few exceptions, simple and without leaf-bearing side branches. The vas- 

 cular bundles do not unite into concentric masses of wood and bark, 

 separated by a continuous cambium layer, but are distinct, scattered in the 

 cellular tissue of the trunk. They consist of vessels, varying in size, which 

 on a horizontal section appear as pores ; secondly, of elongated or poly- 

 gonous cells, generally forming a mass of softer tissue, immediately sur- 

 rounding the vessels ; and, thirdly, of a mass of long thick-walled bast- 

 cells or fibres, of which the hard horny portion of the bundle is composed. 

 Near the circumference the bundles are generally more numerous, smaller 

 and harder, owing to the predominance in them of the bast-cells or fibres, 

 while near the centre they are sparse, containing a relatively larger pro- 

 portion of cells and vessels. The result is, that the centre of a Palm stem 

 is generally the softest part, not rarely becoming hollow by the decay of 

 the cellular tissue. The vascular bundles can be traced from the interior 

 of the stem to the base of the leaf, which is generally broad, and in most 

 cases cylindric and sheathing. The youngest leaf in the terminal bud is at 

 the top in the centre ; as the bud expands it enlarges, and at last enloses 

 the circumference of the stem, hence the vascular bundles descending from 

 it bend inward towards the centre. Lower down these same bundles 

 gradually bend outward toward the circumference, where they can be 

 traced for a considerable length in a vertical direction under the surface. 

 This explains a remarkable feature in the structure of the Palm stem, 

 which shows itself most distinctly in a vertical section made parallel to 



