210 JUNCACE.W. Juncus. 



(about 2 lines long), usually dark brown, in few many-flowered heads : perianth- 

 segments narrowly acuminate : style long and stigmas exserted : capsule acute : seeds 

 ovate, comparatively large. 



Yar. paniculatUS, Eugelm. 1. c. Heads more numerous, few-flowered, in a com- 

 pound ])aincii; : stums 1 to 3 feet high, from a stout rootstock. 



The ty[)iL'.il foiiii near tlie coast, from Mendociiio County to Santa Barbara ; the variety in tlie 

 lower Sacianiento Valley and also iu the Sierra Nevada (near Big Trees, Uolandcr). 



2G. J. chlorocephalus, Engelm. 1. c. 485. Stems low and slender (8 to 15 

 inclies high) lium a blender rootstock, not ancipital : leaves very narrow (a line 

 Avide or less), tlie slieatlis with ligules : heads one or two, many-flowered : perianth 

 pale and scarious, the segments 2 lines long, very obtuse or acute : anthers as in the 

 last species. 



Ill tlie Sierra Nevada, at 4,000 to 10,000 feet altitude ; mature seeds not known. Very like the 

 form of /. Ncvculensis with few heads, except iu the pale scarious and more obtuse segments of tlie 

 perianth. 



27. J. Mertensianus, I^feyer. Stems weak, from slender matted rootstocks, 6 

 to 18 inches liigli, not ancipital ; leaves very narrow (a line wide or less), the sheatiis 

 with ligules : heads solitary, densely many-flowered, dark brown : perianth nearly 2 

 lines long, the lanceolate narrowly acuminate segments equalling the obtuse obovate 

 capsule : anthers eipialling or shorter than the lilaments : seeds as in J. xijJiiuidts. 

 — Veg. Sitch. 167; Engelm. 1. c. 479. 



From Alaska southward in the mountains to California and Colorado ; on the eastern slope of 

 Mono Pass, at 9,000 to 10.000 feet altitude. Uolandcr. 



Order CXVII. PALMiE. 



Perennial woody plants, mostly tall, with a terminal crown of large pinnately 

 divided or ilabellilbrm i)etiolate leaves sheathing the stem, and small usually diclinous 

 and sessile flowers upon a simple or branched axillary spadix, Avhich is at first 

 usually enveloped in a raonophyllous deciduous spathe ; perianth inferior, persistent, 

 coriaceous, of G segments in two series, the outer imbricate or united and cup-like, 

 the inner mostly valvate ; stamens G (or 3), hypogynous or perigynous, included ; 

 ovary 3-celled or of 3 distinct carpels, two of the cells or carjiels often abortive ; ovules 

 1 or 2 in each cell ; stigmas short and thick, usually sessile ; fruit a drupe or berry, 

 with an often thick spongy, fleshy, or fibrous exocarp, and membranous, crustaceous 

 or bony endocarp ; seed with abundant cartilaginous or horny albumen, and a small 

 embryo in a small basal or dorsal cavity. 



A noble order of nearly 100 genera and over 1,000 sjieeies, confined almost exclusively to the 

 tropics and the hottest portion of the temperate zone, and sparingly represented within the limits 

 of the United States. Four species are found on the Atlantic coast, reaching as far north as hit. 

 33°, and a single species attains a like latitude on the western side. In the warmer regions of 

 Mexico the s])eci('s are more numerous. Scarcely any order is ijioro remarkable for the useful 

 juii'iioses which its various jjioducts are made to subserve. The fruit, foliage, and timber, the 

 fibrous tissue, the starchy pith, aii<l the fermentable or iiicdieinal sap are luought into use in 

 manifold ways, and are sulhcieiit of themselves to supply all the wants of a piimitive iiopuhition. 

 No tree of the tropics is more oriianieiilal in cultivation. The United States genera all lieloiig to 

 tlie group Corijphiaa-- or Sabidinai, distinguished Ijy their fan-shaped leaves and peifeet lloweis. 



1. Washingtonia. Leaves nabelliform, copiously filiferous ; ]ietiole armed and with the ligulo 



glabrous. Spatlies and spadix glabrous. Berry small, oblong-ovate, bearing the abor- 

 tive carpels at its summit. Albumen entire. 



2. Erythea. Leaves Habellifonn, bjiaiingly liliferous ; petiole armed or unarmed, somewhat 



))ubescent ; ligule tomentose. Sjjathes and sjiadix tomentose. Berry larger, globose ; 

 abortive carpels at its Ixise. .Mbunien deeply pitted on the ventral side. 



