PALMS AND CYCADS. 



613 



leaves, cuneate at the base, the apex jagged. They do 

 best when planted in a border in a tropical house, where 

 they form noble masses, suggesting gigantic Ferns. They 

 develop large horse - tail - like bunches of flowers. W. 

 caryotoides (fig. 740), W. densijlora. 



Washingtonia^/em (Pritchardia) is a noble Palm 

 from California, and now naturalized in various sub- 

 tropical regions. It is one of the most effective of Palms 

 for a conservatory or cool house. The large bright-green 

 palmate leaves are ornamented with long thread-like fila- 

 ments. When young the plants should be kept under 

 tropical conditions to induce them to develop quickly. 

 They are somewhat thin for the first two or three years. 

 Sometimes called W. robusta and Brahea filamentosa. 



Cycads. 



The Cycads are entitled to a place among 

 garden plants for other reasons than that of 

 ornament. They are the only survivors of an 

 otherwise extinct vegetation, their existence 

 among the living forms of plants being as 



1.2 3 



Fig. 741.— Cones of Cycads. 

 1, Dioon edule. 2, Encephalartos horridus. 3, Cycas revoluta (male). 4, Cycas revoluta (female) 



remarkable botanically as living examples of 

 Ichthyosaurus and Megatherium would be zoo- 

 logically. "On purely morphological grounds 

 we may regard Cycas as probably the most 

 primitive type among recent flowering plants 

 . . . showing a degree of antiquity altogether 

 exceptional for a living genus" (Dr. Scott). 

 Although they bear some resemblance to Ferns, 

 and are popularly supposed to be Palms, their 

 nearest relationship is with Coniferse. Except 

 in their cones (fig. 741), however, there is no 

 resemblance between these two orders. 



The geographical distribution of Cycads is 

 remarkable. They are most abundant in Africa, 

 but they also occur in India, Malaya, Australia, 

 Central America, the West Indies, Florida, China, 

 and Japan. Some of the species of Cycas have 

 stems sometimes 40 feet high, whilst the smallest 



are the Zamias, some of which are only a few 

 inches high. Generally they have thick stems 

 bearing broad crowns of pinnate, sometimes 

 spinous, leaves, radiating from the centre like 

 a tree-Fern. The cones, usually large, are de- 

 veloped from the centre of this crown. They 

 are invariably dioecious, that is, male and female 

 cones on separate plants. The Australian genus 

 Bowenia has a fleshy irregular root-stock and 

 elegant bipinnate leaves 3 to 5 feet high. When 

 well grown this is a handsome stove -plant. 

 Stangeria, from South Africa, has a short fleshy 

 stem and leaves so similar to those of some 

 Lomarias that a German botanist named it 

 Lomaria eriopus. It first produced a cone at Kew 

 about fifty years ago, when its relationship to 

 Cycas was at once revealed. 



As decorative plants Cycads are more in 

 favour in Belgium, France, and Russia than in 

 England; and yet there are 

 no nobler plants to be seen in 

 the great Palm stove at Kew 

 than the grand specimens of 

 Encephalartos, Cycas, Macro- 

 zamia, Ceratozamia, and Dioon 

 (see plate). Many of them are 

 ornamental when small, and 

 some, Cycas revoluta for ex- 

 ample, do not readily succumb 

 to even the roughest treatment. 

 Another remarkable charac- 

 ter in Cycads is that of the 

 exceptional vitality in their 

 stems, the tops of which may 

 be cut off and treated as cut- 

 tings, whilst the beheaded 

 trunk may be kept to supply 

 stock by means of lateral 

 growths. Cycas revoluta is most prolific when 

 thus treated, and the Japanese avail themselves 

 of this character for the rapid increase of this 

 species, which they grow in fields in many 

 thousands for exportation to Europe, especially 

 Germany and Russia, where the leaves are in 

 great demand for wreaths, &c. Imported stems 

 of Macrozamia, Encephalartos, and Cycas have 

 been known to remain dormant for three years 

 and then start into vigorous growth. Seeds of 

 the commoner species are sometimes imported 

 in quantity, and afford a ready means of stock- 

 ing the country afresh. The female cones in 

 some of the species are large, and they assume 

 a bright yellow or red colour when mature. 

 They develop full -sized seeds even when not 

 fertilized, but of course these are of no value 

 for multiplication. 



