FAMILIES OF FLOWERING PLANTS. 31 
CHAPTER V. 
Order Principes. The Palms. 
This order comprises but a single family, the Palmaceae or Palm 
family, an extremely well marked natural group of plants, so charac- 
teristic in their aspect that the term ‘‘palm-like’’ whether applied to 
leaf or trunk, is to most persons self-explanatory. The family .con- 
sists entirely of trees and shrubs, and is now essentially tropical in its 
distribution, although there is geological evidence that: palms were 
found throughout the United States before the glacial epoch. There 
are about 150 genera and 1000 species, of which seven genera are 
represented by one or more species each in the extreme Southern 
States and in Southern California, while two, the date and cocoanut 
-palm, oecur spontaneously as escapes from cultivation. 
The palm stem is one of our most typical examples of the so- 
called endogenous structure among the Monocotylcdons (See Supple- 
ment, page 15). A cross-section shows no annual rings or circles of 
wood, but a homogeneous mass of pith through which the bundles-df 
woody fiber will be found irregularly distributed. Palms have no 
true bark, but the external rind is often very hard, and difficult to cut 
with an axe. The growth is from a terminal bud, and the leaves are 
produced in a graceful cluster at the summit of the stem; as the lower 
ones decay and fall off, their sheathing petioles remain, forming a 
fibrous network. The flowers are borne in dense, fleshy flower -clus- 
ters to which the term spadiz is applied; they are usually enveloped or 
subtended by a large tough bract called a spathe. The flowers or 
moncecious or -dicecious, the male and female sporophylls being borne 
separately on the same or different plants. We find in this family the 
first well-marked floral envelope, consisting of two series (calyx and 
corolla); it is usually leathery in texture, and green or yellow in color. 
The stamens are from three to six; and the fruit is either a drupe or 
stone fruit, as in the date, or a berry, as in the common cabbage pal- 
metto of the South. 
From the economic standpoint the palms constitute the most ém- 
portant family among the monocotyledons; the trunks and leaves 
furnish building materials; in addition to their edible fruits they yield 
starch, sugar and oils, as well as various useful fibers; almost all the 
species are ornamental, and many respond well to cultivation. In this 
connection it will be profitable to examine the leading subdivision of 
