666 OoDEB 130.— PALMACE^. 



Province, ENDOGENS, 



Or Monocotyledons. Phsenogamous Plants having a stem 

 without the distinction of hark, wood and pith, composed of 

 thread-Uke bundles of trachenchyma imbedded irregularly in 

 the general cellular mass, the newest interior, not forming layers 

 ingrowth. Leaves mostly parallel- veined. Flowers very gener- 

 •ally 3-merous. Embryo with one cotyledon, rarely with 2 alter- 

 nate and unequal. 



Class III. PETALIFEE^. Plants of the endogenous struc- 

 ture, the flowers normal and complete with a whorled pe- 

 rianth, or the perianth wanting — in either case destitute of 

 glumes. 



Cohort 5, SPADICIFLOR^. Endogens with flowers hav- 

 ing no perianth or a scaly one, and borne on a thickened 

 rachis (spadix) which is usually enveloped in a spathe. 



Order CXXX. PALMACEJE. Palms. 



IVeas or shrubs chiefly with uubranched tranks growing by the terminal bni 



Leaves large, plaited, on sheathing petiole.?, collected in one terminal cluster. Flmo- 



ers perfect or polygamous, on a branching spadix bursting from a spathe. Perianth 



double, 3-merous, hexandrous, ovaries (and styles) 3, distinct or commonly united 



into 1, each 1-ovuled. Fruit fleshy, 1 — 3-seeded, embryo minute, superficially 



imbedded in albumen. Kg. 47, d, e. 



Genera 7-3, species 500? of noble aspect nnd most interesting attributes. They are chiefly 

 tropical, a few advancing into the warmer parts of the Temperate 2one. 

 The properties and uses of the Palms are of the highest importance and variety. From the 

 " " I Nut, "■' 



(Areca oleracea) is boiled and eaten as a vegetable. Among tlio,7Vw/te, are enumerated u^&date^ 

 from Phcenix dactylifera, and the cocoa-nut, from Attalea funifera. &c 



GENERA. 



* Flowers all perfect Ovaries and styles united into 1. Berry single Sabal. 1 



* Flowers perfect and staminate. Ovaries and styles distinct. Drupes 8 CilAM.£B0P8. 2 



1. SA^BAL, Adanson. Palmetto. FIs. perfect, sessile, outer pe- 

 rianth (calyx) cup-like, 3-cleft or 3-tootlied, inner of 3 subdistinct, ob- 

 long sepals ; stam. 6 ; fil. subulate, their broad bases contiguous or 

 connate, anth. ovate-cordate ; ovaries 3, soon united into 1 ; style 3- 

 angled ; fruit a single globular or 3-lobed, 3 (rarely 1 or 2)-seeded 

 dryish beriy. — Caudex procumbent or erect, covered by the persistent 

 bases of the leaves. Leaves palmately many-cleft, segm. implicate, 2 

 cleft at apex, spadix branching, sheathed with many spathe-like bracts. 

 FIs. small, white or greenish. 

 1 S. Palmetto loddig. Palmetto. Cavdex erect, arborescent; Ivs. coriaceona, 



glaucous-green, lamina fan-shaped, segments numerous, implicate, united to near 



the ensiform summits ; petioles broad, compressed, nearly the length of the lamina ; 



spadix flexuoua, glabrous, much shorter than the leaves ; spathe double ; styl« 



