MONOCOTYLEDONEJE. 39 



sea-shore, borders of lakes and streams, and in pools 

 of stagnant water. Some few have showy flowers ; 

 but in general they are rigid herbs, fit only for the 

 purpose of the door-mat and chair maker. The larger 

 rushes, it is well known, have a large vascular pith, 

 which, when divested of the cuticle, is used as wicks 

 for candles. 



Arums, and their alliances, are the next grade of 

 herbaceous plants. They have mostly tuberous sub- 

 terranean stems, or thick fleshy roots, many of which 

 are edible. The A. Indicum (?) is extensively cul- 

 tivated in China for its tubers, which, with those of 

 the water lily, form the bulk of such kind of culi- 

 nary vegetables in the markets at Canton. The 

 leaves of the Caladium esculentum are used as 

 spinach in India; but in general the leaves of this 

 tribe of plants contain a bitter principle, which 

 renders them unsavoury and sometimes dangerous. 

 Passing these comparatively humble herbs, together 

 with the rest of the Aroidece, we next come to the 

 conspicuous. 



Pandanece and Palmes. These two orders, though 

 nearly allied to each other, are very different in their 

 constitutional conformation : the former being divisi- 

 ble, naturally by off-sets, and artificially by cuttings, 

 the latter not. The mode of rooting of some of the 

 Pandanece is remarkable. The growth is continued 

 in grades. Each successive expansion of leaves 

 and stem is accompanied by an additional number 

 of roots, which are produced not from the original 



