344 
the botanical characters by which they are distinguished, especially in their 
fleshy colourless 6 -parted flowers, enclosed in spathes, their minute embryo 
lying in the midst of albumen and remote from the hilum, and their arborescent 
stems with rigid, plaited or pinnated, inarticulated leaves, called fronds ; but 
their aspect and habits are extremely various. To use the words of the most 
accomplished traveller of our own, or any age; — “While some (Kunthia 
montana, Aiphanes Praga, Oreodoxa frigida) have trunks as slender as the 
graceful reed, or longer than the longest cable, (Calamus Rudentum, 500 feet), 
others (Jubsea spectabilis and Cocos butyracea) are 3 and even 5 feet thick ; 
while some grow collected in groups (Mauritia flexuosa, Chamserops humilis), 
others (Oreodoxa regia, Martinezia caryotaefolia) singly dart their slender 
trunks into the air ; while some have a low caudex (Attalea amygdalina), 
others exhibit a towering stem 160-180 feet high (Ceroxylon an dicola) ; and 
while one part flourishes in the low valleys of the tropics, or on the declivities 
of the lower mountains, to the elevation of 900 feet, another part consists of 
mountaineers bordering upon the limits of perpetual snow.” To which may 
be added, that while many have a cylindrical undivided stem, the Doom Palm 
of Upper Egypt, and the Hyphsene coriacea, are remarkable for their dicho- 
tomous repeatedly- divided trunk. The Calamus genus, and the siliceous 
secretions of their leaves, indicate an aflinity wdth Graminese, which would 
hardly be anticipated, if the grasses of our European meadow^s were compared 
with the Cocoa Nuts of the Indies, but which becomes more apparent when 
the Bamboo is placed by the side of the Cane. 
Geography. Von Martins, the great ^ustrator of this noble family, 
speaks thus of their habits and geographical arrangement : — “ Palms, the 
splendid ofispring of Tellus and Phoebus, chiefly acknowledge as their native 
land those happy regions seated within the tropics, where the beams of the 
latter for ever shine. Inhabitants of either world, they hardly range beyond 
35° in the southern, or 40° in the northern hemisphere. Particular species 
scarcely extend beyond their own peculiar and contracted limits, on which 
account there are few countries favourable for their production in which 
some local and peculiar species are not found ; the few that are dispersed over 
many lands are chiefly Cocos nucifera, Acrocomia sclerocarpa, and Borassus 
flabelliformis. It is probable that the number of species thus scattered over 
the face of nature will be found to amount to 1000 or more. Of these not 
a few love the humid banks of rhuilets and streams, others occupy the 
shores of the ocean, and some ascend into alpine regions ; some collect into 
dense forests, others spring up singly or in clusters over the plains.” 
Progr. 6. But if this statement be tme as to the probable number of 
Palms, how little can be now known of their structure, seeing that not more 
than 175 are at this moment described, of which 119 are South Ame- 
rican, 14 African, and 42 Indian. The testimony of Von Martins is, how- 
ever, confirmed by Humboldt, who also asserts that there must be an in- 
credible number still to discover in equinoctial regions, especially if we 
consider how little is yet known of Africa, Asia, New Holland, and America. 
He and Bonpland discovered a new species in almost every 50 miles of 
travelling, so narrow are the limits within which their range is confined. 
A different opinion appears to be entertained by Schouw, a respectable 
Danish writer upon botanical geography, whose views deserve to be quoted, 
although he is far from having had such personal means of judging as 
Humboldt and Von Martins. He seems to consider that we are acquainted 
already with the greater part of the Palms ; for he says, “ it appears from 
the reports of travellers that such Palm wmods as those of South America 
are less frequent in other parts of the world. Africa and New Holland 
seem to be less favourable to this tribe, for on the Congo, Smith found 
