POPULAR FLORA. 205 



I. Spadiceous Division. 



90. PALM FAMILY. Order PALMiE. 



Altliouo-li some, like the Dwarf Palmettos of the Southern States, make only rootstocks 

 not rlsino- out of the ground, most Palms form trees, with a simple, unbrauched, cylindrical 

 trunk, growing by the terminal bud only, and always surmounted by a crown of large and 

 peculiar, long-petioled leaves. These are fan-shaped in the Palmetto (Fig. 79), pinnate 

 in the Date-Palm, &c. The flowers burst forth from a spathe ; are small, but generally 

 perfect, and furnished with a perianth of 6 parts, In two sets, the outer answering 

 to a calyx, the inner to a corolla. Fruit a nut ; that of the Cocoanut is a good illustra- 

 tion. The principal Palms of our southern sea-coast belong to the genus (C hdmcerops) 

 Palmetto. 



91. ARUM FAMILY. Order ARACE^. 



Herbs with sharp-tasted or acrid juice, and more or less fleshy in their texture ; 

 the leaves either simple or compound, and commonly so much netted-veined that the 

 plants might readily be mistaken for Exogens. The small flowers are closely spiked or 

 packed on a fleshy axis, forming a spadlx. The fruit is a berry, or sometimes dry and 

 leathery, but containing some pulp or jelly. The following are the principal genera we 

 meet with. 



Spathe present, forming a hood, wrapper, or a petal-like leaf. 



Flowers naked, i. e. without any perianth, monoecioiis, dicecious, or polygamous, 

 Covering only the base of the long spadix, which is enclosed in the hooded 

 spathe (Fig. 147). Stem simple, from a rounded corm: leaves com- 

 pound, of 3 or more leaflets, (Ariscema) Indian-Turnip. 

 Covering the whole length of the spadix. Leaves simple, arrow-shaped (Fig. 

 503) or heart-shaped: spadix on the end of a scape, bearing stamens 

 only at the upper part. 

 Spathe green, thick, and closely folded around the spadix: anthers sessile. 



Herb growing in shallow water, (Peltdndra) Arrow-Aeum. 



Spathe white and petal-like, open, ( Cdlla) Calla. 



Flowers with a 4-leaved perianth or calyx, perfect, on a globular spadix, surrounded 

 by a thick, shell-shaped, purplish spadix coming out of ground in 

 earliest spring, some time before the great ovate and heart-shaped, veiny 

 leaves ; odor that of the skunk. Stamens 4, {Symphcdrpus) Skunk-Cabbage. 



Spathe none at all ; the spadix naked, covered with flowers, which are perfect, with a 

 perianth of 6 or sometimes 4 pieces, and as many stamens. 

 Spadix on the summit of a scape rising out of the water: leaves oblong, on a long 



petiole, ( Orontium) Golden-Club. 



Spadix from the side of a leaf, or from a stem similar to one of the long and erect, 

 linear, 2-edged or sword-shaped leaves: all springing from a sharp- 

 aromatic and creeping rootstock, {Acorus) Sweet-Flag. 



