OF THE PALMS. 21 



remain until needed. When this is the case, it 

 is acted upon by the diastase, and converted 

 into sugar, which, dissolved in the sap, passes 

 on to form the pa/'e?ic/;!/??i«, or substance of the 

 leaves, the flowers, or to be stored up in the 

 fruit. Hundreds of pounds of this article are 

 found in the trunk of a single tree ; and, under 

 the name of sago, (for sago, arrow-root, tapioca, 

 tous-le-mois, etc., are only different kinds of 

 starch,) it contributes largely to supply the 

 necessities and minister to the comforts of man. 

 Sugar, too, as we shall see, abounds in the 

 juice of the palms, especially when they are 

 just coming into flower, as then there is the 

 greatest demand on the stores of the tree for 

 nutriment. 



The flowers of the palms are composed of 

 three petals and three calyx leaves, and the 

 stamens vary from three to many times that 

 niuuber. Many of the palms are monsecious or 

 difficious, that is, they bear flowers, some oi 

 which contain only stamens, others bearing 

 pistils ; and where these grow on distinct plants, 

 as in the date palm, it frequently requires some 

 attention in order to insure their fertility. It 

 was this circumstance chiefly that led Linnaus 

 to the important discovery of the sexes of plants, 

 upon which he based his system of classification. 



