16 THE PnYSIOGNOMY AND niYSIOLOGY 



are clustered in dense masses upon a stalk, 

 often branched, wliich is termed the sixidi.r; 

 and this is at first entirely inclosed in an 

 envelope, called the spathe, u-hich at length 

 bursts, and then forms a sheath partially en- 

 wrapping them. Sometimes the sudden burst- 

 ing of the spathe is accompanied with a sharp 

 report ; this phenomenon has been observed by 

 Humboldt and Schomburgk in the American 

 Oreodoxa oleracea, and has long been reported 

 of the talipat palm of Ceylon. In some, the 

 bunch of flowers with the spathe is perfectly 

 erect, as in the Cotvzo del siiui of South 

 America, of which the fruit forms a dense 

 cluster, resembling the fruit of the pine-apple. 

 In the talipat palm, the inflorescence rises in a 

 pyramidal form to a height of thirty feet. In 

 the majority of species, however, the sheaths, 

 Avhich in some palms are smooth, and in others 

 rough and covered with prickles, bend down- 

 wards. The colour of the blossoms is usually 

 yellow, and they liave a remarkably Auled 

 appearance, even when they first burst from 

 the spathe ; but in some few species they are of 

 a dazzling white, and are then distinguishable 

 from a great distance. So vast is the number 

 of flowers borne hy seme of the palms that it 

 seems almost incredible. A single bunch of the 



