PALMS AND BAMBOOS 227 



sexes of plants ; but Theophrastus, Aristotle, and Pliny- 

 were all taught by the palm that there were male and 

 female flowers, and that the one could not produce 

 fruit without the other. ^ They do not seem, however, 

 to have carried their observations in this direction 

 much further than the palm, though Pliny says — 



' All learned men who are deeply studied in the secrets of 

 nature be of opinion and doe teach us, that in all trees and 

 plants, nay, rather in all things that proceed out of the earth, 

 even in the very hearbs, there are both sexes. But there is 

 no tree whatsoever in which this distinction of male and 

 female appeareth more than in palme trees.' — xiii. 4, Holland's 

 Translation. 



And he proceeds to describe both the natural and 

 artificial fertilisation of the flowers. But the idea did 

 not take root. Parkinson was well acquainted with 

 Pliny's works, and in describing the palm, he says — 



' The ancient writers have set down many things of dates, 

 that there is male and female, and that they both beare fruite, 

 so that they be within the sight one of the other, or else they 

 will not beare, but I pray you account this among the rest of 

 their fables.'— T/ieaf. Bat, 1547. 



In 1662, Johnston, in the Dendrographia (ii. 5), said, 

 ' Palma fructifera vel est mas vel foemina,' and described 



1 The bisexual character of the palm and the artificial fertilisation 

 were certainly known to the ancient Assyrians and Babylonians. See 

 Flora of the Assyrian Monuments, by Dr. Bonavia, p. 74 ; and The 

 Dawn of Civilisation, by Professor Maspero, p. 555. 



