Part 17

Flowers on elongated pedicels; perianth obscurely lobed; stamens much exserted, their filaments subulate, barely united at base; stigma oblique; cavity of the seed extending to the apex. Perianth obscurely lobed; style abruptly enlarged into a large oblique stigma; leaves silvery white on the lower surface. 1. T. floridana (D). Perianth deeply lobed; style narrowed gradually into a small oblique stigma; leaves green on both surfaces. 2. T. Wendlandiana (D). Flowers on short pedicels; lobes of the perianth ovate, acuminate; filaments nearly triangular, united below into a cup; stigma flat; cavity of the seed extending only to the middle. Seeds pale chestnut-brown; spadix about 6° long; leaves 3°—4° in diameter. 3. T. keyensis (D). Seeds dark chestnut-brown; spadix less than 3° long; leaves not over 2° in diameter. 4. T. microcarpa (D).

1. Thrinax floridana Sarg. Thatch.

Leaves 2½°—3° in diameter, rather longer than broad, yellow-green and lustrous on the upper surface, silvery white on the lower surface, with a long-pointed, bright orange-colored ligule ¾′ long and broad; petioles 4°—4½° long, pale yellow-green or orange color toward the apex, coated at first with hoary deciduous tomentum, much thickened and tomentose toward the base. Flowers: spadix 3°—3½° long, the primary branches 6′—8′ long and ivory-white, flower-bearing branches 1½′—2′ in length; flowers on slender pedicels nearly ⅛′ long, ivory-white, very fragrant, with an obscurely-lobed perianth, much exserted stamens barely united at the base, and a large stigma. Fruit ⅜′ in diameter, somewhat depressed at the ends; seed from ⅛′ to nearly ¼′ in diameter, dark chestnut-brown.

A tree, with a slightly tapering stem 20°—30° high and 4′—6′ in diameter, clothed to the middle and occasionally almost to the ground with the sheaths of dead leaf-stalks.

Distribution. Florida, dry coral ridges and sandy shores of keys from Long Key to Torch Key, and on the mainland from Cape Romano to Cape Sable.

2. Thrinax Wendlandiana Becc. Thatch.

Leaves 2½°—3° in diameter, orbicular, pale yellow-green, lustrous above, with a thick concave ligule, acuminate or rarely rounded at apex; petioles 2°—4° long, much thickened and tomentose toward the base. Flowers: spadix stalked, 2°—4° long, its primary branches short, flattened, incurved, with numerous terete flower-bearing branchlets; flowers on slender pedicels 1/10′—⅛′ long, with a deeply lobed perianth, the lobes nearly triangular, acuminate, and a small stigma. Fruit ¼′—⅜′ in diameter, globose; seed from ⅛′—¼′ in diameter, dark chestnut-brown.

A tree, in Florida, with a smooth pale trunk 20°—25° high and 3′—4′ in diameter.

Distribution. Florida: Dade County, Madeira Hummock, Pumpkin Key, Flamingo, and northwest of Cape Sable; also in Cuba and on Mugueres Island, Gulf of Honduras.

3. Thrinax keyensis Sarg. Thatch.

Leaves rather longer than broad, 3°—4° long, the lowest segments parallel with the petiole or spreading from it nearly at right angles, light yellow-green and lustrous on the upper surface, with bright orange-colored margins, below coated while young with deciduous hoary tomentum and pale blue-green and more or less covered with silvery white pubescence at maturity, with a thick pointed ligule 1′ long and wide, lined at first with hoary tomentum; petioles flattened above, obscurely ridged on the lower surface, tomentose while young, pale blue-green, 3°—4° long. Flowers: spadix usually about 6° long, spreading and gracefully incurved, with spathes more or less coated with hoary tomentum, large compressed primary branches, and short bright orange-colored flower-bearing branches; flowers on short thick disk-like pedicels, about ⅛′ long, white, slightly fragrant, with a tubular perianth, the lobes broadly ovate and acute, stamens with nearly triangular filaments united at the base, and a flat stigma. Fruit 1/16′ to nearly ¼′ in diameter; seed brown, 3/16′ in diameter.

A tree, with a stem often 25° high and 10′—14′ in diameter, raised on a base of thick matted roots 2°—3° high and 18′—20′ in diameter, and a broad head of leaves, the upper erect, the lower pendulous and closely pressed against the stem.

Distribution. Dry, sandy soil close to the beach on the north side of the largest of the Marquesas Keys, and on Crab Key, a small island to the westward of Torch Key, one of the Bahia Honda group, Florida; on the Bahamas.

4. Thrinax microcarpa Sarg. Silvertop Palmetto. Brittle Thatch.

Leaves 2°—3° across, pale green above, silvery white below, more or less thickly coated while young with hoary tomentum, especially on the lower surface, divided near the base almost to the rachis, with an orbicular thick concave ligule lined with a thick coat of white tomentum; petioles thin and flexuose. Flowers: spadix elongated, with short, compressed erect branches slightly spreading below, numerous slender pendulous flower-bearing branches, and long acute spathes deeply parted at the apex, coriaceous and coated above the middle with thick hoary tomentum; flowers on short thick disk-like pedicels, with a cupular perianth, the lobes broadly ovate and acute, stamens with thin nearly triangular exserted filaments slightly united at base and oblong anthers becoming reversed and extrorse at maturity, and a deep orange-colored ovary narrowed above into a short thick style dilated into a large funnel-formed stigma. Fruit globose, ⅛′ in diameter; seed subglobose, bright to dark chestnut-brown, depressed.

A tree, rarely more than 30° high, with a trunk 8′—10′ in diameter.

Distribution. Dry coral soil, on the shores of Sugar Loaf Sound, and on No Name and Bahia Honda keys, Florida; in Cuba.

2. COCCOTHRINAX Sarg.

Small unarmed trees, with simple or clustered stems or rarely stemless. Leaves orbicular, or truncate at base, pale or silvery white on the lower surface, divided into narrow obliquely folded segments acuminate and divided at apex; rachis narrow; ligules thin, free, erect, concave, pointed at the apex; petioles compressed, slightly rounded and ridged above and below, thin and smooth on the margins, gradually enlarged below into elongated sheaths of coarse fibres forming an open network covered while young by thick hoary tomentum. Spadix interfoliar, paniculate, shorter than the leaf-stalks, its primary branches furnished with numerous short slender pendulous flower-bearing secondary branches; spathes numerous, papery, cleft at the apex. Flowers solitary, perfect, jointed on elongated slender pedicels; perianth cup-shaped, obscurely lobed; stamens 9, inserted on the base of the perianth, with subulate filaments enlarged and barely united at the base, and oblong anthers; ovary 1-celled, narrowed into a slender style crowned by a funnel-formed oblique stigma; ovule basilar, erect. Fruit a subglobose berry raised on the thickened torus of the flower, with thick juicy black flesh. Seed free, erect, depressed-globose, with a thick hard vertically grooved shell deeply infolded in the bony albumen; hilum subbasilar, minute; raphe hidden in the folds of the seed-coat; embryo lateral.

Coccothrinax is confined to the tropics of the New World. Two species, of which one is stemless, inhabit southern Florida, and at least two other species are scattered over several of the West Indian islands.

_Coccothrinax_, from κόκκος and _Thrinax_, is in allusion to the berry-like fruit.

1. Coccothrinax jucunda Sarg. Brittle Thatch.

Leaves nearly orbicular, the lower segments usually parallel with the petiole, thin and brittle, 18′—24′ in diameter, divided below the middle of the leaf or toward its base nearly to the ligule, with much-thickened bright orange-colored midribs and margins, pale yellow-green and lustrous on the upper surface, bright silvery white and coated at first on the lower surface with hoary deciduous pubescence, with a thin undulate obtusely short-pointed dark orange-colored rachis, and a thin concave crescent-shaped often oblique slightly undulate short-pointed and light or dark orange-colored ligule ¾′ wide, ⅓′ deep; petioles slender, pale yellow-green, 2½°—3° long. Flowers: spadix 18′—24′ long, with flattened stalks, slender much-flattened primary branches 8′—10′ long, light orange-colored slender terete flower-bearing branches 1½′—3′ long, and pale reddish brown spathes coated toward the ends with pale pubescence; flowers opening in June and irregularly also in the autumn on ridged spreading pedicels ⅛′ long, with an orange-colored ovary surmounted by an elongated style dilated into a rose-colored stigma. Fruit ripening at the end of six months, from ½′—¾′ in diameter, bright green at first when fully grown, becoming deep violet color, with succulent very juicy flesh, ultimately black and lustrous; seed light tawny brown.

A tree, with a stem slightly enlarged from the ground upward, 15°—25° high, 4′—6′ thick, covered with pale blue rind, and surmounted by a broad head of leaves at first erect, then spreading and ultimately pendulous. Wood used for the piles of small wharves and turtle-crawls. The soft tough young leaves are made into hats and baskets.

Distribution. Dry coral ridges and sandy flats from the shores of Bay Biscayne along many of the southern keys to the Marquesas group (var. _marquesensis_ Becc.) Florida; and on the Bahamas (var. _macrosperma_ Becc.).

3. SABAL Adans. Palmetto.

Unarmed trees, with stout columnar stems covered with red-brown rind. Leaves flabellate, tough and coriaceous, divided into many narrow long-pointed parted segments plicately folded at base, often separating on the margins into narrow threads; rachis extending nearly to the middle of the leaves, rounded and broadly winged toward the base on the lower side, thin and acute on the upper side; ligule adnate to the rachis, acute, concave, with thin incurved entire margins; petioles rounded and concave on the lower side, conspicuously ridged on the upper side, acute and entire on the margins, with elongated chestnut-brown shining sheaths of stout fibres. Spadix interfoliar, stalked, decompound, with a flattened stem, short branches, slender densely flowered ultimate branches, and numerous acuminate spathes, the outer persistent and becoming broad and woody. Flowers solitary, perfect; calyx tabular, unequally lobed, the lobes slightly imbricated in the bud; corolla deeply lobed, with narrow ovate-oblong concave acute lobes valvate at the apex in the bud; stamens 6, those opposite the corolla lobes rather longer than the others, with subulate filaments united below into a shallow cup adnate to the tube of the corolla, and ovoid anthers, their cells free and spreading at the base; ovary of 3 carpels, 3-lobed, 3-celled, gradually narrowed into an elongated 3-lobed style truncate and stigmatic at the apex; ovule basilar, erect. Fruit a small black 1 or 2 or 3-lobed short-stemmed berry with thin sweet dry flesh. Seed depressed-globose, marked on the side by the prominent micropyle, with a shallow pit near the minute basal hilum, a thin seed-coat, and a ventral raphe; embryo minute, dorsal, in horny uniform albumen penetrated by a hard shallow basal cavity filled by the thickening of the seed-coat.

Sabal belongs to the New World, and is distributed from the Bermuda Islands and the South Atlantic and Gulf states of North America through the West Indies to Venezuela and Mexico.

Of the eight species now recognized four inhabit the United States; of these two are small stemless plants.

The generic name is of uncertain origin.

CONSPECTUS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN ARBORESCENT SPECIES.

Spadix short; fruit subglobose, 1-celled; seed-coat light chestnut color. 1. S. Palmetto (C). Spadix elongated; fruit often 2 or 3-lobed, with 2 or 3 seeds; seed-coat dark chestnut-brown. 2. S. texana (E).

1. Sabal Palmetto R. & S. Cabbage Tree. Cabbage Palmetto.

Leaves 5°—6° long and 7°—8° broad, dark green and lustrous, deeply divided into narrow parted recurved segments, with ligules 4′ long and more or less unsymmetrical at apex; petioles 6°—7° long and 1½′ wide at apex. Flowers: spadix 2°—2½° long, with slender incurved branches, slender ultimate divisions, and thin secondary spathes flushed with red at apex and conspicuously marked by pale slender longitudinal veins; flowers in the axils of minute deciduous bracts much shorter than the perianth, opening in June. Fruit ripening late in the autumn, subglobose or slightly obovoid, gradually narrowed at base, 1-seeded, about ⅓′ in diameter; seed light bright chestnut-colored, ¼′ broad.

A tree, often 40°—50° and occasionally 80°—90° high, with a tall clear trunk often 2° in diameter, sometimes branched by the destruction of the terminal bud, divided by shallow irregular interrupted fissures into broad ridges, with a short pointed knob-like underground stem surrounded by a dense mass of contorted roots often 4° or 5° in diameter and 5° or 6° deep, from which tough light orange-colored roots often nearly ½′ in diameter penetrate the soil for a distance of 15° or 20°, and a broad crown of leaves at first upright, then spreading nearly at right angles with the stem, and finally pendulous. Wood light, soft, pale brown, or occasionally nearly black, with numerous hard fibro-vascular bundles, the outer rim about 2′ thick and much lighter and softer than the interior. In the southern states the trunks are used for wharf-piles, and polished cross sections of the stem sometimes serve for the tops of small tables; the wood is largely manufactured into canes. From the sheaths of young leaves the bristles of scrubbing-brushes are made. The large succulent leaf-buds are cooked and eaten as a vegetable, and coarse hats, mats, and baskets are made from the leaves. Pieces of the spongy bark of the stem are used as a substitute for scrubbing-brushes.

Distribution. Sandy soil in the immediate neighborhood of the coast from the neighborhood of Cape Hatteras and Smith Island at the mouth of Cape Fear River, North Carolina, southward near the coast to northern Florida; in Florida extending across the peninsula and south to Upper Metacomb Key, and along the west coast to Saint Andrews Bay; most abundant and of its largest size on the west coast of the Florida peninsula.

Often planted as a street tree in the cities of the southern states.

2. Sabal texana Becc. Palmetto.

_Sabal mexicana_ S. Wats., not Mart.

Leaves dark yellow-green and lustrous, 5°—6° long, often 7° wide, divided nearly to the middle into narrow divided segments, with thickened pale margins separating into long thin fibres, with ligules about 6′ long; petioles 7°—8° long, 1½′ wide at the apex. Flowers: spadix 7°—8° long, with stout ultimate divisions; flowers in Texas appearing in March or April in the axils of persistent bracts half as long as the perianth. Fruit ripening early in the summer, globose, often 2 or 3-lobed; seeds nearly ½′ broad and ¼′ wide, dark chestnut-brown, with a broad shallow basal cavity, and a conspicuous orange-colored hilum.

A tree, with a trunk 30°—50° high, often 2½° in diameter, and a broad head of erect ultimately pendulous leaves. Wood light, soft, pale brown tinged with red, with thick light-colored rather inconspicuous fibro-vascular bundles, the outer rim 1′ thick, soft, and light colored. On the Gulf coast the trunks are used for wharf-piles, and on the lower Rio Grande the leaves for the thatch of houses.

Distribution. Rich soil of the bottom-lands on the Bernado River, Cameron County, and near the mouth of the Rio Grande, Texas, and southward in Mexico in the neighborhood of the coast.

Frequently planted as a street tree in the towns in the lower Rio Grande valley.

4. WASHINGTONIA H. Wendl.

Trees, with stout columnar stems and broad crowns of erect and spreading finally pendulous leaves. Leaves flabellate, divided nearly to the middle into many narrow deeply parted recurved segments separating on the margins into numerous slender pale fibres; rachis short, slightly rounded on the back, gradually narrowed from a broad base, with concave margins furnished below with narrow erect wings, and slender and acute above; ligule elongated, oblong, thin and laciniate on the margins; petioles elongated, broad and thin, flattened or slightly concave on the upper side, rounded on the lower, armed irregularly with broad thin large and small straight or hooked spines confluent into a thin bright orange-colored cartilaginous margin, gradually enlarged at base into thick broad concave bright chestnut-brown sheaths composed of a network of thin strong fibres. Spadix interfoliar, stalked, elongated, paniculate, with pendulous flower-bearing ultimate divisions and numerous long spathes. Flowers perfect, jointed on thick disk-like pedicels; calyx tubular, scarious, thickened at base, gradually enlarged and slightly lobed at apex, the lobes imbricated in the bud; corolla funnel-formed, with a fleshy tube inclosed in the calyx and about half as long as the lanceolate lobes thickened and glandular on the inner surface at the base, imbricated in the bud; stamens inserted on the tube of the corolla, with free filaments thickened near the middle and linear-oblong anthers; ovary 3-lobed, 3-celled, with slender elongated flexuose styles stigmatic at apex; ovules lateral, erect. Fruit a small ellipsoidal short-stalked black berry with thin dry flesh. Seed free, erect, oblong-ovoid, concave above, with a flat base depressed in the centre, a minute sublateral hilum, a broad conspicuous rachis, a minute lateral micropyle, and a thin pale chestnut-brown inner coat closely investing the simple horny albumen; embryo minute, lateral, with the radicle turned toward the base of the fruit.

Three species of Washingtonia are known: one inhabits the interior dry region of southern California and the adjacent parts of Lower California, and the others the mountain cañons of western Sonora and southern Lower California.

The genus is named for George Washington.

1. Washingtonia filamentosa O. Kuntze. Desert Palm. Fan Palm.

Leaves 5°—6° long and 4°—5° wide, light green, slightly tomentose on the folds; petioles 4°—6° long and about 2′ broad at apex, with sheaths 16′—18′ long and 12′—14′ wide, and ligules 4′ long and cut irregularly into long narrow lobes. Flowers: spadix 10°—12° long, 3 or 4 being produced each year from the axils of upper leaves, the outer spathe inclosing the bud, narrow, elongated, and glabrous, those of the secondary branches coriaceous, yellow tinged with brown, and laciniate at apex; flowers slightly fragrant, opening late in May or early in June. Fruit produced in great profusion, ripening in September, ⅓′ long; seed ¼′ long, ⅛′ thick.

A tree, occasionally 75° high, with a trunk sometimes 50°—60° tall and 2°—3° in diameter, covered with a thick light red-brown scaly rind and clothed with a thick thatch of dead pendant leaves descending in a regular cone from the broad crown of living leaves sometimes nearly to the ground. Wood light and soft, with numerous conspicuous dark orange-colored fibro-vascular bundles. The fruit is gathered and used as food by the Indians.

Distribution. Often forming extensive groves or small isolated clumps in wet usually alkali soil in depressions along the northern and northwestern margins of the Colorado Desert in southern California, sometimes extending for several miles up the cañons of the San Bernardino and San Jacinto mountains; and in Lower California.

Now largely cultivated in southern California, New Orleans, southern Europe, and other temperate regions.

5. ACŒLORRAPHE H. Wendl.

Trees, with tall slender often clustered stems clothed for many years with the sheathing bases of the petioles of fallen leaves. Leaves suborbicular, divided into numerous two-parted segments plicately folded at the base; rachis short, acute; ligule thin, concave, furnished with a broad membranaceous dark red-brown deciduous border; petioles slender, flat or slightly concave on the upper side, rounded and ridged on the lower side, with a broad high rounded ridge, thickened and cartilaginous on the margins, more or less furnished with stout or slender flattened teeth; vagina thin and firm, bright mahogany red, lustrous, closely infolding the stem, its fibres thin and tough. Spadix paniculate, interpetiolar, its rachis slender, compressed, ultimate branches, numerous, slender, elongated, gracefully drooping, hoary-tomentose, the primary branches flattened, the secondary terete in the axils of ovate acute chestnut-brown bracts; spathes flattened, thick and firm, deeply two-cleft and furnished at apex with a red-brown membranaceous border, inclosing the rachis of the panicle, each primary branch with its spathe and the node of the rachis below it inclosed in a separate spathe, the whole surrounded by the larger spathe of the node next below. Flowers perfect, minute, sessile on the ultimate branches of the spadix, in the axils of ovate acute chestnut-brown caducous bracts, solitary toward the end of the branches and in two- or three-flowered clusters near their base; calyx truncate at base, divided into three broadly ovate sepals dentate on the margins, valvate in æstivation, enlarged and persistent under the fruit; corolla three-parted nearly to the base, its divisions valvate in æstivation, oblong-ovate, thick, concave and thickened at apex, deciduous; stamens six, included; filaments nearly triangular, united below into a cup adnate to the short tube of the corolla; anthers short-oblong, attached on the back below the middle, introrse, two-celled, the cells opening longitudinally; ovary obovoid, of three carpels, each with two deep depressions on their outer face, united into a slender style; stigma minute, terminal, persistent on the fruit; ovule solitary, erect from the bottom of the cell, anatropous. Fruit drupaceous, subglobose, one-seeded, black and lustrous; exocarp thin and fleshy; endocarp thin, crustaceous; seed erect, free, subglobose, light chestnut-brown; testa thin and hard; hilum small, suborbicular; raphe ventral, oblong, elongated, black, slightly prominent, without ramifications; embryo lateral; albumen homogeneous.

Two species of Acœlorraphe have been distinguished; they inhabit southern Florida, and one species occurs also in Cuba and on the Bahama Islands.

The generic name, from ἀ priv., Κοῖλος and ῥαφη, refers to the character of the seed.

CONSPECTUS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN SPECIES.

Petioles furnished with stout marginal teeth throughout their entire length; leaves green on both surfaces, their primary divisions extending to the middle, secondary divisions only from 3½′—9′ long; stems forming large thickets. 1. A. Wrightii (D). Petioles furnished with thinner teeth, usually unarmed toward the apex; leaves green or glaucescent on the lower surface, their primary divisions extending nearly to the base, secondary divisions often 10′ long or more; stems often prostrate. 2. A. arborescens (D).

1. Acœlorraphe Wrightii Becc.