PALMACE^E. 611 



Group XLII.— Palma les . 



Order 104.— PALM ACEM.—Lindky. 



Flowers monoecious, supported by scaly bracts. Sepals 3, colourless, fleshy or leathery, 

 persistent. Petals 3, sometimes very connate. Stamens inserted on the base of the petals, 

 usually definite, opposite the segments, sometimes indefinite. Ovary free, usually of 3 

 carpels, wholly united, or partially so, sometimes of 1 or 2 only. Ovules solitary, rarely 

 2, erect, orthotropal, or anatropal. Styles continuous with the carpels. Fruit drupaceous 

 or nut-like, or berried, often with a fibrous rind. Seed filling the cavity, often reticulated. 

 Albumen cartilaginous, often ruminated, frequently with a central cavity. Embryo in a 

 particular cavity of the albumen. 



Plants with arborescent, simple stems, sometimes shrubby, occasionally 

 branched, with clustered, terminal, usually very large, pinnate, or flabelli- 

 form leaves, with simple, parallel veins. They are all natives of warm cli- 

 mates. They are very numerous, Martius estimating the known species at 

 upwards of a thousand. Their products are various : these being, according 

 to Humboldt, wine, wax, oil, flour, sugar, and salt, and their wood and leaves 

 are applied to numerous purposes. 



They have been divided into several tribes, some of which seem to be enti- 

 titled to a higher rank. 



Tribe 1. Arece^e. 



Areca. — Linn. 



Flowers monoecious. Sterile : calyx 3-parted, corolla 3-petalled. Fertile : calyx 3- 

 leaved. Corolla 3-petalled. Nectary 6-toothed. Ovary superior, 1-celled, 1-seeded. Drupe 

 coriaceous, containing a single seed, with a ruminated albumen, with the embryo at the 

 base. 



Linn., Sp. PL 1225; Roxburgh, Cor. PL 75; Ainslie, Mat. Ind. ii. 268. 



A small genus, bearing a kind of nut much used in the East Indies, where 

 it is known as the Betel-nut. 



A. catechu, Linn. — Trunk straight and slender, from 40 to 50 feet high. Fronds pin- 

 nate ; leaflets compound, linear, opposite, praemorse. Spathe erect, ramose. Male flowers 

 hexandrous. Seed of a roundish, conic form, and obtuse. 



Common Names. — Betel-nut tree ; Pinang tree. 



It grows in most parts of the East Indies, and was known from the earliest 

 times. The Greeks and Romans do not appear to have been acquainted with 

 it, but the ancient Arabian writers speak of the nut frequently in their works, 

 under the name of Foofel, and considered it as astringent and tonic. This fruit 

 is about the size, and somewhat the shape of a small egg, the nut itself is rather 

 larger than a nutmeg, roundish-conical, flattened at base, hard, corneous, ex- 

 ternally reddish-brown, and internally brown, with white veins ; it is inodo- 

 rous, and of an astringent, somewhat acrid taste. It contains Tannin, Gallic 

 acid, Oil, Gum, &c. 



They furnish an astringent extract, which constitutes one or more varie- 

 ties of the Catechu of commerce. According to Dr. Heyne, the nuts are 

 boiled for some hours in an iron vessel. They are then removed, and the 

 fluid inspissated by continuing the heat; this affords the second quality. After 

 the nuts are dried, they are again boiled in another portion of water, which, 

 on being evaporated, gives the first and dearest kind. These extracts have 

 the same properties as those from the Acacia, Nauclea, &c. (q. v.) 



