12 THE PHYSIOGNOJIY AND rHYSIOLOGY 



supported upon an arched scaffolding of roots, 

 one or more feet high. Ilumhoklt mentions 

 having seen viverras and small monkeys pass 

 under the scaffolding formed by the roots of the 

 Canjota. In some palms, the roots lie coiled 

 round the base of the stem in a padded-like roll. 

 The surface of the stems of palms is as varied 

 as their stature and bulk. Some are traversed 

 in a curious manner by rings or spiral grooves, 

 caused by the leaves fixlling off as the tree 

 increases in age and height. The bark of some 

 (as the calami) is smooth, polished, and covered 

 •with a siliceous coat ; and that of others pre- 

 sents the strange appearance of a dense clolhing 

 of bristly hairs, especially near the summit, 

 \vhere they are often most remarkable. In 

 some species, the trunk is scaly, and in others 

 prickly, as in some South American palms, on 

 the stems of which the thorns, Avhich are often 

 formidable and of huge size, are ver}'- regularly 

 arranged in rings. Often, in their native 

 forests, ^vill the stately trunks of the palms 

 appear clothed from base to summit with a 

 matted mass of verdure and a profusion of 

 flowers not their own ; hosts of parasitic plants 

 of those strange forms which impart so peculiar 

 a character to tropical forests, almost hide the 

 real chiu-actcr of the tree: a great orchid 



