78 



formed by the sheathing leaf-stalks is swollen at the base and of a 

 deep green colour. 



The spadices are three or four in number, growing rather upwards 

 from the stem below the leaf-column. They are small and simply 

 branched, and bear small oval red fruits about the size of a damson, 

 the outer pulp of which is bitter and only eaten by some birds. 



But what most strikes attention in this tree, and renders it so pecu- 

 liar, is, that the roots are almost entirely above ground. They spring 

 out from the stem, each one at a higher point than the last, and extend 

 diagonally downwards till they approach the ground, when they often 

 divide into many rootlets, each of which secures itself in the soil. As 

 fresh ones spring out from the stem, those below become rotten and 

 die otf ; and it is not an uncommon thing to see a lofty tree supported 

 entirely by three or four roots, so that a person may walk erect beneath 

 them, or stand with a tree seventy feet high growing immediately over 

 his head. 



in the torests where these trees grow, numbers of young plants of 

 every age may be seen, all minature copies of their parents, except that 

 they seldom possess more than three legs, which gives them a strange 

 and almost ludicrous appearance. 



The wood of these trees is very hard on the outside, but >oftand 

 pithy within. Lt splits easily and very straight, and is much used for 

 forming the floors of canoes, the ceilings of houses, shelves, >eats, and 

 various other purposes. Perfectly straight laths are more readily made 

 from it than from any other wood, and they are so hard and durable as 

 to serve for fish- weirs, corals for turtles and for harpoons. The air- 

 roots are covered with tubercular prickles, and are used by some Indians 

 to grate their mandiocca (cassava;. 



This species grows in swamps or marshy ground in the virgin 

 forest, not in the tide-flooded lands on the river banks." lt was formerly 

 associated with the old genus Iriartea from which it may, however, at 

 once b » distinguished according to the " Treasury of Botany," by being 

 very bitter in every part. This property disqualifies the leaves from 

 being eaten as 4 cabbage,' and in Central America has obtained for 

 these palms the name of Palmas amargas, in contradistinction to the 

 different species of Iriartea, which are termed there Palmas dulces, and 

 are used as, food. 



Gkevillba robusta, Cunningham, according to Von Mueller, is a 

 stately lawn-tree, indigenous to the subtropical parts of East- Australia, 

 rising to 150 feet, of rather rapid growth, and resisting drought in a 

 remarkable degree; hence one of the most eligible trees, even for de- 

 sert-culture, though naturally a silvan plant. The wood is elastic and 

 durable, valued particularly for staves of casks, also for furniture, and 

 for interior work in houses. The richly developed golden-vellow trusses 

 of flowers attract honey-sucking birds and bees through several months 

 of the year. The seeds are copiously produced and germinate rapidly. 

 Rate of growth in Victoria, 20-30 feet in 20 years. In Ceylon it at- 

 tained a stem-circumference of 5 feet in eight years. In India it 



