PALMS AND BAMBOOS 233 



interest. From the times of the Greeks and Romans 

 (and probably earlier) the palm has been the accepted 

 symbol of victory ; and the reason given was that how- 

 ever much the palm-leaves are laden with heavy weights 

 they do not break, and are with difficulty bent, and if 

 bent at all they soon rise up again. I have seen this 

 prettily illustrated in severe "winters when the heavy 

 snows have bent the tough leaves of the Phormiiim fenax 

 so that they could not rise again ; at the same time the 

 large yuccas were rotted, and cedar branches broken, 

 but the broad leaves of the palm carried the heavy load 

 of snow, and immediately the snow was removed the 

 leaves sprang up and the plants were quite uninjured. 

 The old emblem ^vriters made good use of this character 

 in the palm; and Mary Queen of Scots took for her 

 device a palm bending under a heavy weight, with the 

 motto, 'Ponderibus virtus innata resistet.' 



But it is from the Biblical references that the palm- 

 tree has for us its chief interest. As we admire our 

 palm-trees we think of the historical trees; of the 

 seventy palm-trees that formed the pleasant oasis in 

 the desert and marked the site of the refreshing wells ; 

 we think of the palm-trees of 'Jericho, the city of 

 palm-trees'; of the palm-tree of Deborah; of the 

 ' carved figures of palm-trees ' that adorned the Temple, 

 and especially of the palm branches that strewed the 



