THE SCREW-PINE FAMILY. 



137 



and even golden-coloured foliage have been introduced, and 

 are esteemed favourite hot-house plants. 



The Tacead Family. 



(Taccace^.) 



A small family of plants which somewhat resemble 

 Aroids, but technically differ in their flowers and fruit. 

 They are generally natives of warm regions. Attaccia 

 cristata, a native of India, has fibrous roots, entire leaves, 

 and a singular spathaceous inflorescence borne on a 

 stem a foot high. Tacca pinnatijida and other allied 

 species consist of fleshy rhizocorms from which rise 

 large, erect, digitate, or many-parted leaves. They are 

 extensively cultivated in the Malayan and Pacific Islands 

 for their fleshy corms, which contain a farinaceous 

 meal like sago, and forms an important article of food. 

 T. pinnatijida is known in the Sandwich Isles by the 

 name of " Pi." 



The Screw-pine Family. 



(Pa^^danace^.) 



Palmids, generally with fibrous, stifi'-branched stems, 

 and aerial roots ; or phyllacorms, some epiphytal am- 

 pelids. Leaves, grass or sword-like, or elliptical, rarely 

 palmate, entire or with serrated margins. Flowers 

 inconspicuous, monoecious, or dioecious. Ovaries (fruits) 

 compactly united in globose, conical, or cylindrical heads. 



A singular family of plants, consisting of about 80 

 species, natives of India and the islands of the Indian 

 and Pacific Oceans. 



They possess no special properties. 



Screw-pine (Pandanus odoratissimus). This and other 

 alhed species generally grow near the sea in the above- 



