-HAM i 



FAMILY PALMJE. 



Palm trees are all inhabitants of 

 warm countries, and no species is 

 found further north then the extreme 

 south of Europe. They sometimes 

 grow to a very great height. We 

 have mentioned already (see p. 169) 

 that their trunk does not increase in 

 thickness with age, but only in height. 

 It is surmounted by a crown of beau- 

 tiful leaves which make it bend before 

 the slightest wind. The palms yield 

 very various kinds of fruit, dates and 

 cocoa-nuts for example. 



Palm tree. 



FAMILY GEAMINEZE. 



This family is indisputably the most numerous of the vege- 

 table kingdom. It includes all the plants which are commonly 

 called grasses, and many others also. It furnishes man with a 

 large proportion of his food in the form of cereals, which are all 

 grasses. The sugar-cane is also a plant of this family. 



Most of the Graminefe are annuals which must be planted an- 

 nually, as they die every year. Their stalk is not like that of 

 other plants, but is hollow, with knots at different intervals. A 

 leaf grows from each knot, which at first surrounds the stalk, 

 and then spreads out from it. The flower of the grasses is in- 

 conspicuous. Its centre is composed of a pistil with a bifurcated 

 extremity resembling two small and very light feathers. Hound 

 the pistil hang three stamens, the pollen-sacs of which are sup- 

 ported at the end of very fine threads. The pistils and stamens 

 compose the whole flower, they issue from more or less numerous 

 scales which are called chaff, and which remain round the corn. 



