EXPLANATION OF PLATE 1. 
Fg. 1. Areca ohracea. Cabbage-tree. [Family of the Palms.] This tree la 
mor.cecioua. It grows to the height of 120 feet. This is a young plant, little more 
lliar. 20 feet in height. The stipe is slender, simple, and vertical. Leaves terminal, 
very long, pinnate ; petioles sheathing; leafets elongated, lanceolate; spathas mono- 
phyhous, growing from the axils of the lower leaves, which fall off; flowers in pani- 
cles, the staminate and pistillate flowers enclosed by different spathas. a, Spath;» 
shut, 6, spntha opened laterally; c. stipe, which is fusiform ;* d, panicle of staminate 
flowe/s, which were contained in the spatha before it opened ; e, panicle of pistillate 
flowers, entirely separated from its spatha; /, part of the stipe, formed at its super- 
fii'.es by the base of the developed l-^aves, and in the interior by the young, tender, and 
succulent leaves, which form a white compact head. These are eaten by the people 
of the West Indies as a salad, cooked as we prepare cabbage ; the name Areca is 
given in the East Indies, where this tree flourishes. ^, is a young leaf folded like a fan. 
The areca-nut is chewed by the people of India. It is said to resemble the nutmeg. 
This plant belongs to Monoecia Monodelphia. 
Fig. 2. Cactus peruvianus. (Family of the Cacti.) The name Cacti was given 
b/ tfie Greek botanist, Theophrastus, who first discovered the plant. A succulent 
plant, oecoming woody by a^e ; it rises to the height of thirty feet. It grows among 
the ro;ks in Peru, near the sea. The stem is vertical, articulated, brandling, spinosu, 
with seven or eight prominent angles. Branches erect ; spines acicular, fasciculated, 
divergent, placed at intervals upon the ridges of the stem and branches. Flowers lat- 
pralj cauline, solitary, sub-sessile, it belongs to Icosandria Monogynia. 
Fig. 3. Drxcmsa draco. Dragon-tree {Family Asphodel.) A tree of Africa ana 
thr Indies, the diameter of whose trunk is very gieat in comparison to its height. 
Stipe cylindrical, vertical, marked with tratisverae cicatrices left by the leaf in falling 
Leaves terminal, alternate, crowded, semi-amplexicaulis, ensiform, cuspidate; ihe 
upper ones erect, the lower ones pendent, the intermediate ones spreading or reflexcd j 
a red, resinous extract, obtained from this f)lant, and called Dragon's blood, is sold ir 
the shops. The ancient Greeks introduced it into medicine. This plant is classed ir, 
Hexandria Monogynia. 
Fig. 4. MusA pai-adisiaca^ or the Banana tribe. (Familjr Musce.) The name Musa 
(0 said to have been given by Linnaeus in honour of Antonius Musa, the physician of 
Augustus, who wrote on botany. This is an herbaceous plant, with a perennial bul- 
bous root ; it grows to the height of 15 or 20 feet. It is a native of the East Indies, 
but has been long cultivated in South America. The leaves are radical, petioled, at 
£fst convolute; petioles long, large, sheathing, forming by their brim a thick and 
smooth stem resembling a stipe. The lamina of the leaf is sometimes 9 feet in length 
and two in breadth, oblong, entire ; the sides thick and strong, with the veins at right 
angles to them, and to the midrib. Scape cylindrical, naked, sheathed. Spike termi- 
nal, pendent. Flowers semi-verticillate, bracted ; the fertile flowers at the base of the 
Bpike, the infertile at the summit. A, is a young Banana ; a a, central leaves, convo- 
lute. By a Banana bearing fruit ; a, remains of old leaves; 6, the scape; c, rf, e, pen- 
dent spike; c, the fruit, (classed by Mirbel in the genus berry ;) rf, portion of the axis 
from which the flowers have fallen ; e, steril flowers, crowded into a compact head, 
terminal, enveloped by their bracts. This plant is by some placed in the class Hex- 
andria, by others in the now obsolete class Polygamia ; but Mirbel, very properly, I 
think, considers it as belonging to the class Monoecia. The spikes of fruit sometimes 
weigh from thirty to forty pounds each. The fruit when ripe is yellow. Each berry is 
about eight inches in length, and one in diameter. 
Fig. 5. Cactus opuntia. Prickly-pear. (Family of the Cacfi.) A succulent plant 
with a woody stem, first described and named by Th>eophrastus, as a spiny, edible 
plant. It is a native of southern latitudes, where it grows to the height of eight or ten 
feet. Stem thick, compressed, ramose, articulated, spinose ; the joints are ovate. 
Leaves very amall, cn^-lindrical. subulate, caducous. Spines fasciculated, divergent, 
growing at the base of the leaves. 
Fig. 6. Typha lati/olia. Cat- tail. (Family Ttjphoe.) The name from the Greek 
tiphos, a lake, because it grows in marshy places. An herbaceous plant, monoecious, 
with a perennial root, growing to the height of eight or ten feet in marshy grounds, in 
Europe and North America. Stem vertical, simple, aphyllous at its summit, surround- 
ed at the lower part with sheathing petioles. Leaves very long, riband-like. Flowers 
in a terminal, crowded, cylindrical spike. Barren flowers superior, and separated 
from tne fertile flowers by a short interruption. This plant belongs to Monoecia Tri- 
andria. 
Fig. 7. Cactus melocactus. (Family of the Cacti.) Succulent plant from th(3 
Antilles, perennial, melon-form, with fifteen or twenty sides, garnished with fascicles 
of divergent spines. 
* Mirf)el, whose description I follow, defines fu iforrn tanerin? at both ends and swelled towarJa tha 
middlK : tiius he considers the Radish rout as t'usiiorm, whiio ine carr^^t lie calls conical. 
