388 SYSTEMATIC BOTANY 



PALMED (The Palms) 

 Examples : 



COCOS NUCIFERA, L. 



The Coco-nut palm is common in all Tropical dis- 

 tricts that are not far from the sea, growing round 

 the coasts of America, Africa, India, the Malay Straits 

 and the Islands of the Pacific but not in temperate 

 climates, nor even in the sub-tropical inland regions, 

 e.g. northern India. 



The first thing we notice about the Coco-nut palm 

 (and indeed all palms) in comparison with other trees,, 

 is that the stem is unbranched. Only very rarely 

 does a palm branch. At the base close to the ground,, 

 the stem is thickened, but from a height of two to 

 four feet it remains of practically the same thickness 

 right up to the top ; in young and in old plants it is 

 of about the same thickness. This means that unlike 

 dicotyledonous trees, such as the Mango, a palm does 

 not grow in thickness, but only in height. 



At the base of the stem a number of roots grow 

 out into the ground, each of about the thickness of a 

 large pencil. All the roots of the Coco-nut are of 

 this kind, there is no tap-root nor any branched system 

 of roots as in dicotyledonous plants. 



The leaves are borne directly on the stem, and 

 since there are no axillary branches, when once they 

 have fallen off no more appear on that part of the 

 stem, so that one finds them only at the top, where 

 they are formed, the youngest being nearest the apex, 

 as in all other plants. They have large sheathing bases,, 

 and after they have fallen off, the leaf scars aknost 



