484 



ILLUSTRATIONS OP THE NATURAL ORDERS. 



928. Ol'd. Palms {Palms). Chiefly trees, with unbranched cylin- 

 drical trunks growing by a terminal bud. Leaves large, clustered, 

 fan-shaped or pinnated, plaited in vernation. Flowers small, per- 

 fect or polygamous, mostly with a double (6-merous) perianth ; the 

 stamens usually as many as the petals and sepals together. Ovary 

 1 - 3-celled, with a single ovule in each cell. Fruit a drupe or berry. 

 Seeds with a cartilaginous albumen, often hollow ; the embryo placed 

 in a small separate cavity. — Ex. Palms, the most majestic race of 

 plants within the tropics, and of the highest value to mankind, are 

 scarcely found beyond the limits of these favored regions. The 

 Date-tree (Phoenix dactylifera, the leaves of which are the Palms 

 of Scripture), a native of Northern Africa, endures the climate of 

 the opposite shores of the Mediterranean : while in the New World, 

 Chamaarops Palmetto (Fig. 184), the only arborescent species of the 

 United States, and one or two low Palms with a creeping caudex 

 (Dwarf Palmetto), extend from Florida to North Carolina. Palms 

 afford food and raiment, wine, oil, wax, flour, sugar, salt, thread, 

 weapons, utensils, and habitations. The Cocoanut (Cocos nucifera) 

 is perhaps the most important, as well as the most widely diffused 

 species. Besides its well-known fruit, and the beverage it contains. 



the hard trunks are employed in the construction of huts ; the ter- 

 minal bud (as in our Palmetto and other Cabbage Palms) is a deli- 

 cious article of food; the leaves are used for thatching, for making 



FIG. 1196. Branch of the inflorescence of Chainserops hystrix (Blue Palmetto). 1197. A 

 Bterile flower. 1198. Perfect flower, with the calyx and corolla removed. 1199. Same, with 

 three of the stamens remOTed, so as more distinctly to show the three somewhat united carpels. 

 1200. One of the carpels enlarged, seen laterally. 1201. Same, with a section of its inner face, 

 showing the ovule or young seed. 1202, Vertical section of a young cocoanut, showing the 

 hollow albumen ; and also the small embryo in a separate little cavity. 1203. Section of a 

 Palm-stem. 



