EXPLANATION OF PLATE I. 
Fig. 1. Areca oleracea. Cabbage-tree. [Family of the Palms.] This tree is 
monoecious. It grows to the height of 120 feet. This is a young plant, little more 
than 20 feet in height. The stipe is slender, simple, and vertical. Leaves terminal, 
very long, pinnate; petioles sheathing; leafets elongated, lanceolate; spathas mono- 
phyllous, growing from the axils of the lower leaves, which fall off; flowers in pani¬ 
cles, the staminate and pistillate flovvers enclosed by different spathas. a, Spatha 
shut; 6, spatha opened laterally ; c, stipe, which is fusiform ;* d , paniclemf staminate 
flowers, which were containedin the spatha before it opened; e, panicle of pistillate 
flowers, entirely separated from its spatha; /, part of the stipe, formed at its super- 
fices 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 vve prepare cabbage; the name Areca is 
given in the East Indies, where this tree flourishes, g, 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 Monoedia Monodelphia. 
Fig. 2. Cactus pcruvianus. (Family of the Cacti.) The name Cacti was given 
by the 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 among 
the rocks in Peru, near the sea. The stem is vertical, articulated, branching, spinose, 
with seven or eight prominent angles. Branches erect ’ f spines acicular, fasciculated, 
divergent, placed at intervals upon the ridges of the stem and branches. Flowers lat¬ 
eral, cauline, solitary, sub-sessile, it belongs to Icosandria Monogynia. 
Fig. 3. Dracaena draco. Dragon-tree. (Family Asphodel.) A tree of Africa and 
the Indies, the diameter of whose trunk is very great in comparison to its height. 
Stipe cylindrical, vertical, marked with transverse cicatrices left by the leaf in falling. 
Leaves terminal, alternate, crowded, semi-amplexicaulis, ensiform, cuspidate; the 
upner 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 in 
the shops. The ancient Greeks introduced it into medicine. This plant is classed in 
Hexandria Monogynia. 
Fig. 4. Musa paradisiaca, or the Banana tribe. (Family Muscb.) The name Musa 
is said to have been given by Linneeus 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, petiofed, at 
first 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 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 Cacti.) A succulent plant 
with a woqdy stem, 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 Byphce.) 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- 
id 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 the fertile flowers by a short interruption. This plant belongs to Monoecia Tri- 
andria. 
Fig. 7. Cactus melocactus. (Family of the Cacti.) Succulent plant from the 
Antilles, perennial, melon-form, with fifteen or twenty sides, garnished with fascicles 
of divergent spines. 
f Mirbel, whose description I follow, defines fusiform as tapering at both ends and swelled towards the 
middle ; thus he considers the Radish root as fusiform, while the carrot he calls conical. 
