THE VEGETABLE WORLD. 333 



slender shaft, like a column upon a column, from which 

 the leaves proceed. In the fan-leaved Palms, the leafy 

 crown often rests upon a bed of withered leaves, a 

 circumstance which gives a solemn, melancholy character 

 to the plants. In some of the umbrella-Palms, the 

 crown consists of a few fans elevated on long, slender 

 stalks. 



In all Palms the inflorescence breaks out from the 

 stem below the origin of the leaves. The way in which 

 it breaks through equally modifies their shape. In a few, 

 the great horn-shaped, rolled-up sheath stands upright, 

 and from it rises the dense bunch of fruit like a Pine- 

 apple. But in most, the sheath, often several feet long, 

 now smooth, now rough and hostile, hangs down, 

 often with dazzling lustre, which glances far in the 

 distance. 



The shape and colour of the fruit, too, are more 

 varied than is usually imagined. The Lepidocarya, the 

 Sago Palms, are adorned with egg-shaped fruits, the scaly, 

 brown, smooth surface giving them the aspect of beautiful 

 young Fir-cones. What a remove from the enormous 

 triangular Cocoa-nut, to the berry of the Date and the 

 little cherry-like stone-fruit of the Corozo ! But no Palm- 

 fruit approaches the fruit of the Pirijao of St. Fernando 

 de Atahapo, in beauty ; ovate, golden and scarlet apples, 

 hang down in crowded Grape-like clusters from the summit 

 of the majestic stem. 



This may serve to convey the characteristics of the 

 Palms, but a last primary form yet remains to be considered, 

 in which the leaf and stem formation, most intimately 

 blended and inseparable, determine the total impression, 

 not, however, without this receiving peculiar modifications, 

 sometimes from the stem and its ramifications, and 



