Order 131.— ARAOB^. 



667 



thick, obtuse ; berry globular. — "Woods along the coast, Ga. and Ma. (scarce N. 

 to the Cape Fear 11.). One specimen in the street, irout of the P. 0., Charleston. 

 Caudex 20 to 50i' high, usually enlarged upwards, and rugged above with the 

 split bases of the old leaf-stalks. The majestic leaves are all terminal, from 1 bud, 

 and 6 to lOf long. Spadix from the same bud, which in early spring is tender 

 and nutritious like the cabbage. The use of the leaves in hat-work, &o., is well 

 known. Jn., Jl. (Ghamasrops, Mx.) 



2 S. Adansoni Guernsent. Dwarf Palmetto. Gaudex prostrate ; Ivs. rigid, 

 glaucous; petioles shorter, naked; spadix strict, glabrous, branohlets remote-flow- 

 ered ; style thick, obtuse, scarcely shorter than the petals ; berry depressed-globous. 

 — In low, sandy swamps, along the coast, Neuso river to the Apalachicola, &c., 

 often in wide patches. Spadix slender, about as high (3 to 4f) as the leaves. A 

 compound branch issues from each alternate sheath. Pis. numerous, IJ" long, 

 calyx half as long. Berry bluish black, 3" diam. Jn. — Aug. (S. pumila Walt.) 



3 S. serrulata E. & S. Caudex creeping ; petioles aculeate-serrate ; lamina flabel- 

 iform, 10-12-cleft; spadix thick, flexuous, branchlets densely greyish pubescent; 

 style very slender, subulate ; berry oblong-ovoid. — Plat pine barrens, S. Car. to 

 Pla., common. The prostrate rhizomes attain a diam. of 4 to 6', creeping many 

 feet. Leaves 2 or 3f, in dense masses, affording nice shelter for rattlesnakes I 

 Sheaths of the spadix long (2 — 3'), loose. Pis. rather close on tlie branchlets, 

 2^" long, calyx J as long, stylo single, tapering to a setaceous point. Berry dark 

 blue, 5" diam. Jl., Aug. 



fi. MIXIMA. Every way smaller ; Ivs. about T-cleft. — E. Pla. (S. min. Nutt.) 



2. CHAM.£^ROPS, L. Blub Palmetto. (Gr.;\;a|Ua/,on the ground, 

 paji/), a bush.) Fls. polygamo-dioecious, ses.silo or short pedicellate ; 

 calyx 3-parted, cor. (inner perianth) 3-petaled, valvate in bud ; stam. 

 or 9 ; fil. connate at base, anth. oblong or linear-oblong, cordate ; ova- 

 ries 3, distinct, stigmas 3, sessile, subulate, berries 3, or by abortion 

 fewer, 1-seoded. — Palms aoaulescent. Lvs. palmately many-oleft, segm. 

 split at apex with no intervening threads. Petioles aculeate at base 

 and edge. Spadix dense-flowered, fls. yellowish. 



C. Hystrix Praser. Caudex low, making offsets at base ; petioles spiny in 

 the axils ; spadix very short ; drupes ovoid, apex obliciue, rather large, hirsute. — 

 In clayey soils around Savannah, to Pla. Caudex' creeping, becoming several 

 inches in diam. In the axils of the sheathing leaf-stalk is a thick, matted, brown, 

 canvas-like stipule, and rigid, sharp, needle-shaped spines 3 to G' long, Spadix 

 enclosed in the radical sheaths, bearing a dense mass of hairy, brown drupes 0" 

 in length. Jn. — Aug. 



Order CXXXI. APtACE^. Aroids. 



Herbs with a creeping rhizome or corm, and an acrid or pungent juice, with the 

 leaves simple or compound, often veiny, and the flowers mostly dichnous and naked. 

 Inflm-escence a spadix, dense-flowered, naked or 

 mostly surrounded with a large spathe. Periamth 

 none, or of 4 to 6 scales. Stamens hypogynons, 

 with ovate-extrorse anthers. Ovary free, stigma 

 sessile. Fruit baccate or dry, seeds albuminous, 

 embryo axial. Pig. 91, 2(n. 



Genera 46, species 240, abundant in tropical regions, rooro 

 rare in tempenite, one only, (JoUft palustris, extending to tho 

 northern fiiiijid zone. 



Properties. An acrid, volatile principle pervades tho 

 order, which is, in some instances, so concentrated as to 

 become poisonous. The corms and rhizomas abonnd also in 

 atarch, which in some cises when the volatile acridity is ex- 

 pelled in drying or cooking, is edible and nntricious, as in 

 Golocasta. ifcc. 



Fig. T09. Calla palustris, its spathe, spadix and flowers. 

 S, Cue of the Unwors, consisting of an ovary surrounded by- 

 sis stamens, c, Cross section of tho ovary. 



