EXPLANATION OF PLATE I. 
F.g. 1. Areca oler'acea. Cabbage-tree. [Family of the Palms.] This tree 18 
. iOrjOBcious. It grows to the height of 120 feet. This is a young plant, little more 
•han 20 feet in height. 'I'he stipe is slender, simple, and vertical. Leaves terminal 
very long, pinnate; petioles sheathing; leafets elongated, lanceolate; spalhas mono- 
phyhous, growing from the axils of the lower leaves, which fall off; flowers in pani- 
cles, the starninate and pistillate flowers enclosed by different spathas. a, Spatho 
shut, 6, spntha opened laterally; c. stipe, which is fusiform ;* d, panicle of starninate 
Bowers, 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- 
fioes by the base of the developed leaves, 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 i9 
given in the Fast Indies, where this tree flourishes, is e young leaf folded like a fan. 
'I'he areca-nut is chewed by the people of India. It 13 said to resemble the nutint'g. 
This plant belongs to Moncecia Monodelphia. 
Fig. 2. Cactus peruvianas. (Family of the Cacti.) The name Cacti was given 
tne Greek botanist, Theophrastus, who first discovered the plant. A succulent 
plant, becoming woody by age; it rises to the height of thirty feet. It grows aniong 
the ro ;ks in Peru, near the sea. The stem is vertical, articulated, branching, spinos«;, 
with i.even or eiglit prominent angles. Branches erect ; spines acicular, fasciculated 
divergent, placed at intervals upon the ridges of the stem and branches. Flowers lat 
pral, cauline, solitary, sub-sessile, it belongs to Icosandria Monogynia. 
Fig. 3. DRACiENA rfr a CO. Dragon-tree. (Family ilspAoc/e/.) A tree of Africa and 
Xh.n. Indies, the diameter of whose trunk is very great in comparison to its height. 
Stipe cyhndrical, vertical, marked with transverse cicatrices left by the leaf in falliiig. 
Leaves terminal, alternate, crowded, semi-amplexicaulis, ensiform, cuspidate; ihe 
upper ones erect, the lower ones pendent, the intermediate ones spreading or reflexed ; 
a red, resinous extract, obtained from this plant, and called Dragon's blood, is sold ir 
• he shops. The ancient Greeks introduced it into medicine. This plant is classed ir 
Hexandria Monogynia. 
Fig. 4. MvsK Tparadisiaca^ or the Banana tribe. (Family Muscc.) The name Musa 
iu sam to have been given by Linnteus in honour of Antonius Musa, the physician ol 
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, 
out has been long cultivated in South America. The leaves are radical, petioled, at 
f.rst 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 
spike, the infertile at the summit. A, is a young Banana ; a a, central leaves, convo- 
lute. B, a Banana bearing fruit ; a, remains of old leaves; 6, the scape; c, d, e, pen- 
dent spike; c, the fruit, (classed by Mirbel in the genus berry ;) d, portion of the axis 
from which the flowers have fallen ; e. steril flowers, crowded into a compact heaci 
terminal, enveloped bv 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 Moncecia. The spikes of fruit sometimea 
weigh from thirty to forty pounds each. The fruit when ripe is yellow, i^ach berry ia 
about eight inches in length, and one in diameter. 
Fig. 5. Cactvs 0 pun tia. Prickly-pear. (Family of the Cacft.) A succulent plant 
«irith a woody stcnri, first described and named by Theophrastus, as a spinv, 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 small, cylindrical, subulate, caducous. Spines fasciculated, divergent 
growing at the base of the leaves. 
Fig. 6. Typha latifolia. Cat-tail. (Family TyphcB.) The name from the Greek 
Hphosy a lake, because it grows in marshy places. An herbaceous plant, moncBcious, 
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 Moncecia Tn- 
andria. 
Pig. 7. Cactus melocactus. (Family of the Cacti.) Succulent plant from tho 
Antilles, perennial, melon-form, with fifteen or twenty sides, garnished with fascicles 
of divergent spines. 
• Mitbel, whose description I follow, defines fusiform as tapering at both ends and swelled towards thf 
viddle ; tiiiis he considers the Radisli root as fuaifbrra, while the carrot he calls conir^ 
