lOS 
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 
dactylifera) but the cocoanut is really a seed, the husk ol 
the fruit, corresponding to the edible part of the date, be- 
ing stripped from it in the tropics before shipment. A 
multitude of uses is found for other species by the inhabit- 
ants of the Trojncs and in such regions the order is of far 
more importance than that containing the grasses which 
people of temperate climes find so useful. From the 
Palmaceee are obtained lumber, thatch, sugar, sago, oil, 
starch, fibre, and many edible fruits. It is interesting to 
know that although the palms are found around the 
w^orld in warm regions, the species of the Old World are 
almost without exception different from those found in 
the Western Hemisphere. 
ORDER v.— SYNANTH^. 
This order consists of the single family Cyclanthaceae 
containing about fifty palm-like plants, natives of Tropi- 
cal America. None are found in our territory and none 
are remarkable for either beauty or use. 
PLANTS WITH EXTRA-FLORAL NECTARIES. 
The United States National Museum has recently 
issued a most interesting volume on "The Useful Plants 
of the Island of Guam" by W. E. Safford who was for a 
long time resident of the island. From his account of the 
vegetation, we select the following on extra -floral nectar- 
ies : 
There are perhaps few localities which offer better 
facilities for the observation of extra-floral nectaries. 
Here, within a small area, growing not in conservatories, 
but in a state of nature, may be observed a remarkably 
large number of plants having glands on the midribs, 
veins, petioles, or rachis of their leaves, or on the ped- 
uncles, pedicels or sepals of their flowers. Among them 
are species of Cassia, Erythrina and Acacia with stalked 
disc or cup-like glands, and, belonging to the Euphor- 
biacese, the candle-nut and the well-known castor bean 
with well marked nectaries at the junction of the blade 
and petiole of the leaf. 
