Morphology of the Leaves of Palms. 



251 



II. The Ontogeny of the Palm Leaf. 



1. The " Plicated " Limb. 



In my study of the Palms I have not confined myself to genera whose 

 leaf development has hitherto remained undescribed, but I have examined 

 every example of which I could obtain material, because I found that, as 

 my standpoint differed somewhat from that of previous workers, the 

 existing descriptions did not settle the questions with which I was par- 

 ticularly concerned. I have followed the mode of development of the young 

 leaves in representatives of four of the five sub-families of the Palms, but 

 in the case of the fifth group — the anomalous Phytelephantese {Nipa and 

 Phytelephas) — I regret that I have been unable to obtain material. Most 

 of my observations relate to the ontogeny of the leaves of seedlings of 

 various ages, because it is almost impossible, in this country, to procure 

 many apical buds of fully developed Palms. The plumular leaves are 

 generally of simpler form than the leaves of the mature plant, but there 

 is no reason to suppose that they differ from them in any essential respect 

 in the early stages of ontogeny. 



The species which I have examined are distributed as follows among the 

 different tribes : — 



I. CORYPHIN KJE. 



Phcenicese 



Phoenix canariensis, Hort., P. dactylifera, L., P. 



Sabaleae 



Rivieri, Hort. 

 Chamcerops humilis, L. 

 Pritchardia filifera, Lind. 

 Rhapis humilis, Blume. 

 Thrinax cxcelsa, Lodd. 



Trachycarpus {Chamcerops) excelsus, H. Wendl., 



T. (C.) Fortunei, H. Wendl. 



II. BOKASSINE^E. 



Borassese 



III. LePIDOCAKYINEjE. 



Calamese 



IV. OeUOXYLINE/E. 



Arecinese 



Dcemonorops {Calamus) melanochcetes, Blume. 



Latania Commersonii, J. F. Gmel. 



Areca sapida, Soland. 



Bentinckia nicobarica, Becc. 

 Hovjea Belmoreana, Becc. 



Cocoinese 



Oreodoxa regia, H. B. et K. 

 Cocos Romanzoffiana, Cham. 



T 2 



