THE PALMS OF BRITISH INDIA AND CEYLON. 39 



cylindrical or flat spines, often eight or ten inches long and as sharp 

 as a needle. As in these cases also the leaf-sheaths are covered with 

 spines, such palms offer a serious obstacle to the traveller who 

 attempts to penetrate the tropical forest. 



Branching is a rare occurrence in the tall aerial stem, It is the rule 

 only in a few species of the genus Hyphcene (thebaica, coriacea, and 

 indica). In these palms the stem forks, often several times in succes- 

 sion, and there is no doubt that here we have cases of true dichotomy, 

 similar to the mode of branching observed in Pandanus furcatus 

 (Screw-pine). In ten other genera (out of a total of 131) exceptional 

 cases of branching are recorded. These are often due to an injury to 

 the terminal bud, as in the Wild Date, where the apex is continually 

 tapped for toddy. In other cases branching takes place in consequence 

 of the replacement of flowering buds by leaf-buds, which develop into 

 shoots. Mr. F. Field gives a photograph of a Wild Date Palm with 

 14 branches (Journal, Bombay Natural History Society, Vol. xvni, 

 p. 699) that was growing at a village named Amas in the Gaya 

 District, and he mentions that at one time the tree had been struck by 

 lightning and split, and that from the base of the split those branches 

 started. 



The formation of horizontal suckers at the base of the stem is not 

 so seldom. When they grow erect, they afford a characteristic bushy 

 habit, as in the case of Rhapis fiabeliiformis, a species often cultivated 

 in gardens. 



The Leaf. — The foliage generally forms a magnificent crown at the 

 end of the trunk. It is this crown that renders the palms objects of 

 such beauty and elegance. The leaves are large and often gigantic, 

 surpassing those of any other class of plants. In some species they 

 are 50 feet long and 8 wide. We can easily distinguish two main 

 types of leaves, the palmate and pinnate, which give rise to the 

 popular terms Fan-palm and Feather-palm respectively. In the 

 Fan-palms the blade is entire while enclosed in the bud, but folded 

 up. When the leaf expands the folds become torn to a greater or 

 less distance from the margin inwards. The depth of division varies 

 much in different genera and species. In the pinnse (leaflets, seg- 

 ments) of the Feather-palms we can observe, similar characteristic 

 foldings and tearings. The presence or absence of a terminal leaflet 

 and the shape of the pinnae in such a leaf afford useful distinctive 



