MONOGOTYLEDONES. 177 



Dracontium) and Sweet Flag {Acorus Calamus) are medi- 

 cinal. The Calla, or Ethiopian Lily {Bichardia Afrieana), 

 native of Africa, has been in cultivation about one 

 hundred and fifty years. Recently, species of Alocasia 

 and Caladium have been introduced as hot-house plants. 

 The Skunk Cabbage {Symplocarpiis fietiditg) belongs to 

 this family. 



7. Palmaceae. The Palm family includes trees, shrubs, 

 or woody climbers, with the monoecious or dioecious flowers 

 in a spadix (or a panicle or spike), generally enclosed in a 

 hard, or leathery spathe. The perianth is six-parted ; sta- 

 mens six ; pistil of three carpellary leaves ; fruit a berry, 

 or stone-fruit. The plants occur in the Tropics, or adjacent 

 ■warm regions. No plants are more majestic than the arbo- 

 reous species, which rise often to the height of one hundred 

 feet, bearing at their summit spreading crowns of large 

 leaves and drooping clusters of fruit. There are nearly a 

 thousand species; and, except the Grasses, no family of 

 plants surpasses them in the importance of their products. 

 An arboreous Brazilian species {Atalea junijera) furnishes 

 in its fibrous leaves material for making ropes, mats, and 

 coarse brooms ; the hard nuts (Coquilla-nuts), about three 

 inches long, are used for making door-handles, bell-pulls, 

 etc. The Cocoa-nut Palm (^Cocos nudfera) is a native of 

 the coasts of Tropical Africa, India, and Malay, and culti- 

 vated in all tropical countries. It produces the cocoa-nuts 

 of commerce ; each tree may yield one hundred to one 

 hundred and fifty nuts annually, aud continue to bear 

 forty years. The white albumen and the milk furnish the 

 natives of some parts of India and other countries with 

 nearly their entire food and drink. The uses of the various 

 parts of this tree are manifold, as in constructing huts, 

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