134 



PALMACEvE. 



[Endogens. 



Order XXXVIII. PALMACEiE.— Palms. 



1'almiE, Juss. Gen. (1789) ; R. Brown, Prodr. 266. (1810) ; Von Martins Palm. Bras. (1824 to 1836) ; 

 Id. Programma (18241; Bartl. Ord. Nat. 63. (1830); Endl. gen. lxxv. ; Royle Illustrations, p. 

 39.'); Blume Rumphia, vol. 2. passim; Kunth. mum. 3. 168 ; Meisner, p. 354. Griffith in Calcutta 

 Journal of Natural History, vol. ?.— Phytelephanteas, Martins Conspectus, No. 21. (1835). 



Diagnosis. — Unisexual (or bisexual) Endogens, toith perfect flowers, seated on a branched 

 scaly spadix, and a minute embryo lodged below the surface of homy or fleshy albumen. 



Trunk arborescent, simple, occasionally shrubby, sometimes branched, rough with the 

 tlilated half-sheathing bases of the leaves or their scars ; in the Rotangs flagelliform,and 

 extremely long ; occasionally armed with stiff spines. Leaves clustered, terminal, 

 usually very large, pinnate or flabelliform, plaited, with parallel simple veins ; in some 



cases eroded and wedge-shaped. Spa- 

 dix scaly, terminal, often branched, 

 enclosed in a 1- or many-valved 

 spathe, which is often woody. Flow- 

 ers small, supported by scaly bracts, 

 $ $ , or occasionally . Sepals 3, 

 colourless, fleshy or leathery, persis- 

 tent. Petals 3, often larger, and 

 sometimes deeply connate. Stamens 

 inserted into the base of the perianth, 

 usually definite in number, opposite 

 ( the segments, to which they are equal 

 in number, seldom 3 ; sometimes in- 

 definite in number. Ovary free, 

 usually composed of 3 carpels, com- 

 pletely united, or partially so ; occa- 

 sionally of 2 or 1 only. Ovules soli- 

 tary, very rarely 2, erect, orthotropal, 

 oranatropal in various degrees. Styles 

 continuous with the carpels. Fruit 

 drupaceous, or nut-like, or berried, 

 often with a fibrous rind. Seed fill- 

 ing the cavity in which it grows, often 

 reticulated. Albumen cartilaginous, 

 often ruminate, frequently furnished 

 with a central or ventral cavity ; em- 

 j bryo lodged in a particular cavity of 

 h the albumen, usually at a distance 

 from the hilum, dorsal and indicated 

 by a little nipple, taper or pulley- 

 shaped ; plumule concealed, scarcely 

 visible ; the cotyledonar extremity 

 becoming thickened in germination, 

 and either filling up a pre-existing ca- 

 vity, or one formed by the liquefaction 

 of the albumen in the centre. 

 The race of plants to which the name of Palms has been assigned is, no doubt, the 

 most interesting in the vegetable kingdom, if we consider the majestic aspect of their 

 towering stems, crowned by a still more gigantic foliage ; the character of grandeur 

 which they impress upon the landscape of the countries they inhabit ; their immense 

 value to mankind, as affording food, and raiment, and numerous objects of economical 

 importance ; or, finally, the prodigious development of those organs by which their race 

 is to be propagated. A single spathe of the Date contains about 12,000 male flowers ; 

 Alfonsia amygdalina has been computed to have 207,000 in a spathe, or 600,000 upon a 



Fig. XCI.— 1. Inflorescence of Chamaerops humilis, in its spathe ; 2. a portion of the same, with the 

 fruit ripening ; 3. a male flower ; 4. a female flower ; 5. a ripe fruit ; 6. a section of another variety, 

 showing the seed ; 7. a seed with a portion of the surface cut away, to display the emhryo. 



Fig. XCI. 



