102 



TREES OF NORTH AMERICA 



woody. Mowers solitary, perfect; calyx tabular, unequally lobed, the lobes slightly imbri- 

 cated in the bud; corolla deeply lobed, with narrow ovate-oblong concave acute lobes 

 valvate at the apex in the bud; stamens 6, those opposite the corolla lobes rather longer 

 than the others, with subulate filaments united below into a shallow cup adnate to 

 the tube of the corolla, and ovoid anthers, their cells free and spreading at the base; 

 ovary of 3 carpels, 3-lobed, 3-celled, gradually narrowed into an elongated 3-lobed style 

 truncate and stigmatic at the apex; ovule basilar, erect. Fruit a small black 1 or 2 or 3- 

 lobed short-stemmed berry with thin sweet dry flesh. Seed depressed-globose, marked on 

 the side by the prominent micropyle, with a shallow pit near the minute basal hilum, a thin 

 seed-coat, and a ventral raphe; embryo minute, dorsal, in horny uniform albumen pene- 

 trated by a hard shallow basal cavity filled by the thickening of the seed-coat. 



Sabal belongs to the New World, and is distributed from the Bermuda Islands and the 

 South Atlantic and Gulf states of North America through the West Indies to Venezuela 

 and Mexico. 



Of the eight species now recognized four inhabit the United States; of these two are small 

 stemless plants. 



The generic name is of uncertain origin. 



CONSPECTUS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN ARBORESCENT SPECIES. 



Spadix short; fruit subglobose, 1-celled; seed-coat light chestnut color. 1. S. Palmetto (C). 

 Spadix elongated; fruit often 2 or 3-lobed, with 2 or 3 seeds; seed-coat dark cliestnut-brown. 



.2. S. texana (E). 



1. Sabal Palmetto R. & S. Cabbage Tree. Cabbage Palmetto. 



Leaves 5-6 long and 7-8 broad, dark green and lustrous, deeply divided into narrow 

 parted recurved segments, with ligules 4' long and more or less unsymmetrical at apex; 

 petioles 6-7 long and \\' wide at apex. Flowers: spadix 2-2-| long, with slender incurved 



Fig. 99 



branches, slender ultimate divisions, and thin secondary spathes flushed with red at apex 

 and conspicuously marked by pale slender longitudinal veins; flowers in the axils of 

 minute deciduous bracts much shorter than the perianth, opening in June. Fruit 

 ripening late in the autumn, subglobose or slightly obovoid, gradually narrowed at 

 base, 1-seeded, about \' in diameter; seed light bright chestnut-colored, \' broad. 



A tree, often 40-50 and occasionally 80-90 high, with a tall clear trunk often 2 in 

 diameter, sometimes branched by the destruction of the terminal bud, divided by shallow 



