EXPLANATION OF PLATE L 



Fig. 1. Areca oleracca. Cabbage-tree. [Family of the Palms.] This tree is 

 monoecious. It grows to the height of 120 feet. This is a young plant, little more 

 tlian 20 feet in height. The stipe is slender, simple, and vertical. Leaves terminal, 

 very long, pinnate; petioles sheathing; leafets elongated, lanceolate; spathas mono- 

 phyllous, grovifing from the axils of the lower leaves, which fall off; tlowers in pani- 

 cles, the staminate and pistillate flovyers enclosed by different spathas. a, Spatha 

 shut ; b, spatha opened laterally; c. stipe, which is fusiform ;* d, panicle of staminate 

 flowers, which were contained in the spatha before it opened ; e, panicle of pistillate 

 flowers, entirely separated from its spatha; /, part of the stipe, formed at its super- 

 fices by the base of the developed leaves, and in the interior by the young, tender, and 

 succulent leaves, which form a white compact head. These are eaten by the people 

 of the West Indies as a salad, cooked as vye prepare cabbage ; the name Areca is 

 given in the East Indies, where this tree flourishes, g, is a young leaf folded like a fan. 

 The areca-nut is chewed by the people of India. It is said to resemble the nutmeg. 

 This plant belongs to Monoecia Monodelphia. 



Fig. 2. Cactus peruvianus. (Family of the Cacti.) The name Cacti was given 

 bv the Greek botanist, Theophrasliis, who first discovered the plant. A succulent 

 plant, becoming woody by age ; it rises to the height of thirty feet. It grows among 

 the rocks in Peru, near the sea- The stem is vertical, articulated, branching, spinose, 

 with seven or eight prominent angles. Branches erect ; spines acicular, fasciculated, 

 divergent, placed at intervals upon the ridges of the stem and branches. Flowers lat- 

 eral, cauhne, solitary, sub-sessile, it belongs to Icosandria Monogynia. 



F'ig. 3. DracjEna draco. Dragon-tree. {Fam\\y Asphodel.) A tree of Africa and 

 the Indies, the diameter of whose trunk is very great in comparison to its height. 

 .Stipe cylindrical, vertical, marked with transverse cicatrices left by the leaf in falling. 

 Leaves terminal, alternate, crowded, semi-amplexicaulis, ensiform, cuspidate; the 

 upper ones erect, the lower ones pendent, the intermediate ones spreading or reflexed; 

 a red, resinous extract, obtained from this plant, and called Dragon's blood, is sold in 

 the shops. The ancient Greeks introduced it into medicine. This plant is classed in 

 Hexandria Monogynia. 



Fig. 4. MusA paradisiaca, or the Banana tribe. (Family M«s«.) The name Musa 

 is said to have been given by Linnjeus in honour of Antonius Musa, the physician of 

 Augustus, who wrote on botany. This is an herbaceous plant, with a perennial bul- 

 bous root; it grows to the height of 15 or 20 feet. It is a native of the East Indies, 

 but has been long cultivated in South America. The leaves are radical, petioled, at 

 first convolute; petioles long, large, sheathing, forming by their brim a thick and 

 smooth stem resembling a stipe. The lamina of the leaf is sometimes 9 feet in length 

 and two in breadth, oblong, entire ; the sides thick and strong, with the veins at right 

 angles to them, and to the midrib. Scape cylindrical, naked, sheathed. Spike termi- 

 nal, pendent. Flowers semi-verlicillate, bracted ; the fertile flowers at the base of the 

 spike, the infertile at the summit. A, is a young Banana ; a a, central leaves, convo- 

 lute. B, a Banana bearing fruit ; a, remains of old leaves ; b, the scape; c, d, e, pen- 

 dent spike; c, the fruit, (classed by Mirbel in the genus berry ;) d, portion of the axis 

 from which the flowers have fallen ; e, steiil flowers, crowded into a compact head, 

 terminal, enveloped by their bracts. This pinnt is by some placed in the class Hex- 

 andria, by others in the now obsolete class Polygamia ; but Mirbel, very properly, I 

 think, considers it as belonging to the class IMonoscia. The spikes of fruit sometimes 

 weigh from thirty to forty pounds each. The fruit when ripe is yellow. Each berry is 

 about eight inches in length, and one in diameier. 



Fig. 5. Cactus opun^ia. Prickly-pear. (Familyof the Cac^i.) A succulent plant 

 with a woody stem, first described and named by Th^eophrastus, as a spiny, edible 

 plant. It is a native of southern latitudes, where it grows to the height of eight or ten 

 feet. Stem thick, compressed, ramose, articulated, spinose; the joints are ovate. 

 Leaves very small, cylindrical, subulate, caducous. Spines fasciculated, divergent, 

 growing at the base of the leaves. 



Fig. 6. TvPHA latifolia. Cat-tail. (Family Typhw.) The name from the Greek 

 tiphos, a lake, because it grows in marshy places. An herbaceous plant, monoecious, 

 with a perennial root, growing to the height of eight or ten feet in marshy grounds, in 

 Europe and North America. Stem vertical, simple, aphyllous at its summit, surround- 

 ed at the lower part with sheathing petioles. Leaves very long, riband-like. Flowers 

 in a terminal, crowded, cylindrical spike. Barren flowers superior, and separated 

 from the fertile flowers by a short interruption. This plant belongs to Monoecia Tri- 

 andria. 



Fig. 7. Cactus melocadus. (Family of the Cacti.) Succulent plant from the 

 Antilles, perennial, melon-form, with fifteen or twenty sides, garnished with fascicles 

 of divergent spines. 



* Mirbel, whose descri . 

 middle ; thus he considers the Radish root i 



