LEYDEN. 155 



of botanists, but we found it to be Chamaerops humilis. 

 The finest specimens of this palm in England do not ex- 

 ceed three feet in height; indeed, Miller describes it as 

 " never rising with an upright stern*." The plant which 

 we now beheld was twenty feet high, including the leaves -J* ; 



that it may be proper for us to add, that, with permission of the gardener, 

 we brought home a decaying leaf of Clusius's palm, with its stalk : and that 

 these alone afford sufficient data for ascertaining that we are right in naming 

 the plant Chamaerops humilis. In the Edinburgh Botanic Garden there are 

 fine specimens of both the palms alluded to. The general characters of each 

 (exclusive of those derived from the fructification) may here be noticed. 



The height of the Chamaerops varies much according to the age of the 

 plant, and humilis is therefore far from being an appropriate trivial name. 

 In Britain it is seen from three to five or even six feet high. The stem re- 

 sembles the trunk of an arborescent fern, being covered over with decayed 

 remains of the petioles, which give it a rugged appearance. The petioles are 

 stiff, compressed, and armed on each side with a row of short hard spines ; 

 at least, these spines are common in the European variety, to which the 

 Clusian Palm belongs ; in the West India variety they are rare. The seg- 

 ments of the leaf are folded, entire, and acute. 



The Rhapis flabelliformis is seldom, in this country, to be seen above two 

 feet high. The stem is more of a woody nature ; or at least, the bases of the 

 petioles being thin, membranous, and closely imbricated, give it, In every 

 stage of growth, a more smooth and woody appearance, than is observable 

 in the Chamaerops, and several other palms. The segments of the leaves are 

 broader, and of a much livelier shining green, than in the Chamaerops ; they 

 are plaited, and have the margins serrulated ; and the apices are not entire, 

 but appear as if torn. 



* Gardener's Dictionary, in loco. 



"J" It may be remarked, that in the frontispiece to Boerhaave's Index Plan- 

 tarum in Horto Lugduni Batavorum, published in 1710, there is, among 

 other plants, a figure of Chamaerops humilis, growing in a tub. It seems 

 very likely that Clusius's palm is intended ; and if the artist can be sup- 

 posed to have paid any reasonable attention to the proportional height of the 

 tub and the plant, and if the former be regarded as of the usual dimensions, 

 we must conclude that this fine palm has gained much more than half its 

 present height during the last century. Possibly the escape of the roots 



