PART IX 

 THE PALMS 



Palms are tropical plants related to lilies on one hand 

 and grasses on the other. One hundred genera and about 

 one thousand species compose a family in which tree forms 

 rarely occur. A few genera grow wild in the warmest 

 sections of this country, and exotics are familiar in culti- 

 vation, wherever they are hardy. The leaves are parallel- 

 veined, fan-shaped, or feather-like, on long stalks that 

 sheath the trunk, splitting with its growth. The flowers 

 are lily-like, on the plan of three, and the fruits are clus- 

 tered berries, or drupes. 



Sago, tapioca, cocoanuts, and dates are foods de- 

 rived from members of this wonderful family. The 

 fibres of the leaves supply thread for weaving cloth and 

 cordage to the natives of the tropics, where houses are 

 built and furnished throughout from the native palms. 



The royal palm, crowned with a rosette of feather-like 

 leaves, each ten to twelve feet long, above the smooth, 

 tall stems, is a favorite avenue tree in tropical cities. 

 In Florida it grows wild in the extreme southwest, but is 

 planted on the streets of Miami and Palm Beach. Its 

 maximum height is one hundred feet. 



In California the favorite avenue palm of this feather- 

 leaved type is the Canary Island palm, whose stout trunk, 

 covered with interlacing leaf-bases, wears a crown of 



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