544 



PALM TRIBE; STRUCTURE OP FLOWER. 



guished by a peculiar name. They are mostly remarkable for 

 the size and strength of their stems, which usually shoot up to a 

 great height from the ground, tapering gracefully from the base 

 to the summit, and surmounted with a magnificent crown of 

 gigantic leaves. These towering stems (which, when growing 

 in sheltered situations, are often perfectly straight) sometimes 

 attain the height of 200 feet or even more. Other species, how- 

 ever, have stems which trail along the ground; and these extend 

 to the length of 500 feet; such is the common Cane, whicli 

 differs from the Bamboos and other Canes properly so called 

 (which belong to the Grass tribe) in having a solid instead of a 

 hollow stem. Although the trunk usually sends out no branches, 

 it occasionally subdivides into two, and these again separate, as 

 in the Doum Palm of Egypt. The Palms are remarkable for 

 the prodigious development of their organs of fructification. A 

 single bunch of the staminiferous flowers of the Date contains 

 about 12,000 blossoms; whilst another species has been estimated 

 to bear above 200,000 in one cluster, and three such clusters on 

 each individual. 



722. Although the flowers are frequently complete, each 



containing both 

 B f stamens and pis- 



tils, they are 

 more frequently 

 polygamous; that 

 is, both complete 

 and incomplete 

 flowers are borne 

 on the same indi- 

 vidual. They are 

 crowded together 

 B, in large clusters, 

 upon a stalk which 

 is termed a spadix, 

 having an enor- 

 mous bract developed from its base, termed the gpathe, which 

 enwraps them all. The perianth consists of six pieces, in two 



FIG. 195. FLOWERS AND FRUII OF COCOA NUT PALM. 

 staminiferous flower ; C, pistilliferous flower. A, section of 

 fruit ; a, husk, or pericarp ; b, shell or endocarp ; c, albu 

 men ; d, cavity within it ; e, embryo ;/, aperture of shell ; 

 g, rudiment of other aperture. 



