FOLIAGE PLANTS OTHER THAN PALMS 187 



are flat, dark green, with lighter transverse 

 markings. The leaves of cylindrica, as the 

 name indicates, are round. 



THE SAGO PALM 



Another plant of a totally different char- 

 acter, but still seemingly indifferent to the 

 dust and gas of the living room is the sago 

 palm (Cycas revoluta). It is a very slow 

 grower, so if one buys a small plant he can 

 depend upon it that it will be some years 

 before it becomes too large for house culture. 



The cycas has a short stem which is 

 crowned with a whorl of leaves. Only one 

 whorl is produced in a year, but with care 

 the old leaves may be made to persist for 

 two or three years. The foliage is dark 

 green; the individual leaf is long and flat, 

 being composed of a long central stem to 

 which the pinnae are attached in two rows. 

 When the new leaves come out they unroll 

 just like the fiddle-head fern fronds, and are 

 upright, but as they grow older, they grad- 

 ually drop, until the following year, when it 

 is time for the new set of leaves to 

 come out, they are horizontal or slightly 

 drooping. 



