2]^2 PALM.E. Enjlhm. 



pericarp, broadly excavated albumen and dorsal embryo, and the leaf-scf^ments entire or nearly 

 so, not filifi TOILS on tlie margins. Wiiidland refers our species to the Mexican g.^nus Bnihm, 

 which has much smaller llowers, \inc(|Ual hlaments and comparatively large acute unlhcrs, united 

 cari>els, oblong I'ruil \vith thin pericaip, the albumen excavated vertically nearly to the njiex ami 

 embryo dorsal, and the segments of the leaves barely clelt and not hljrous on the margins. In 

 the mythology of the Greeks, Eriftlica was one of the liespcrides, daughters of Evening or tlie 

 West, " who ilwelt on an inland of the ocean, on the western edge of the world, and guarded a 

 garden with golden apiiles." 



1. E, edulis, Watson. The slender trunk sometimes 30 feet liigli and 15 inches 

 or more in diameter, covered with a thick corky cracked bark : the iibrous sheathing 

 bases of the leaves at length glabrons : petioles stout, over an inch broad at the sum- 

 mit, plano-convex with acute unarmed margins, somewhat iibrous-pubescent or gla- 

 brate above ; ligule 2 or 3 inches long, very densely silky-tomentose ; blade 3 feet 

 long, the (70 or 80) folds at lirst tomentose, cleft to the middle (less deeply on the 

 under side), lacerate at the apex and somewhat iibrou.s on the edges : panicle 4 feet 

 long, much branched, densely tomcntosi", Ijecoming glabrate : llowers numerous, in 

 clusters of 3 or 4, the corolla (U lines long) twice longer than the calyx ; segments 

 of the corolla lanceolate : carpels glabryus : fruit over an inch in diameter, the thick 

 pulp sweet and edible : seed 7 to 9 lines in diameter, slightly llattened on the inner 

 side, with smooth and grayish, thin but very hard and bony epidermis : embryo 

 near the base on the dorsal siile. — JJrahtu edulis, AVeiuUand ; Watson, Proc. Anier. 

 Acad. xi. 120, 14G. 



On Guadalupe Island (Dr. E. Pahncr), and becoming introduced into cultivation. Each tree 

 bears one to four panicles, blossoming late in March ; the fruit-clusters are said to weigh 40 or 

 50 [lounds. 



2. E. armata, Watson. Taller and more graceful than the last (40 feet high) : 

 leaves glaucous, llie petioles narrower, more concave above, amX margined with numer- 

 ous stout more or less hooked slightly spreading spines ; folds (30 to 40) si)lit nearly 

 to the middle on both edges, scarcely lacerate at the apex and but slightly Idiferous : 

 branches of the panicle more sleiuler : car[)els densely tomentose : fruit smaller (i) 

 lines long), the seed half an inch in diameter: embryo at the base. — Brahea (t) 

 armata, Watson, 1. c. 146. 



In the Big Canon of the Tantillas I\lountains, Lower Califoriua, Dr. E. Palmer. The tloweis 

 have not been collected. 



Order CXVIII. CYPERACE^. 



Sedgy or rushdike herbs, mostly perennial and rhi/.omatous, Avith triangular or 

 terete solid stems, and alternate mostly radical leaves with closed sheaths or lealless ; 

 spicate llowers perfect or unisexual, without ])erianth or with a series of hypogynous 

 bristles or scales in its place, solitary and sessile in the axils of imbricated glume- 

 like bracts (scales) ; stamens usually 2 or 3, hypogynous, with basilixed anthers ; 

 ovary 1-celled, with an erect anatropous ovule and a 2-3-cleft style, in fruit a len- 

 ticular or more or less triangular akene, membranous, crustaceous or bony ; embryo 

 minute, lenticular or turgid, at the base of copious albumen. — Spikelets of one to 

 many llowers in two or more raidcs, solitary or clustered, or often in simple or c(jm- 

 pound spikes or um])els or panicles, the inllorescence involucratc with usually leafy 

 bracts or naked. 



A very large order, distributed over the globe, especially abundant in the temiierate and cooler 

 portions of th<; northern hemisphere, and usually foun<l in wet or damp non-saline localities. It 

 includes 50 or 00 genera and ))robably 2,000 species, 1)nt is sjiaringly represented in California. 

 As compared with the Gramincie the order, though so large, is iuiimi)ortant, the coarse herbage 

 alfordiug little nutriment, and no species furnishing a grain of any value. 



