PAL1I1E, in botany, palms. Under this name Linnxus has arranged several genera, which he has placed apart in an appendix to the work. The same plants constitute one of the seven families or tribes, into which all vegetables arc tributed by Limmus in his "Philosaphia Botanical' They are defined to be plants with simple stems, which, at their summit, bear leaves resembling those of the ferns, being a composition of a leaf and a branch ; and whose flowers and fruit are produced on that particular re ceptacle, or seat, called a spadix, pro truded from a common calyx in form of a sheath or scabbard, termed by Linuxus "spatha" l'AtmAs, is likewise the name of the first order in Linnwus's " Fragments of a Natural Method," consisting of the fol lowing genera ; the three last of which, although not ranged with the palms in the appendix to his " Artificial System," are placed with them, on account of their alleged conformity in point of habit, in his " Natural Method." The plants of this order are perennial, and mostly of the shrub and tree kind. The stem is in height from two to a hundred feet, and upwards. The roots form a mass of fi bres, which are commonly simple, that is, without any ramifications. In frog's bit the roots are terminated by a small cup, of a conic form, which covers them like an extinguisher, as in duck's-meat. The stem is generally simple, cylindrical, and composed of strong longitudinal fi bres; the leaves, which are a composi tion of a leaf and a branch, termed by Linuxus frondes, are of different forms, being sometimes shaped like au umbrella or fim, sometimes singly or double-wing ed; the small or partial leaves, which are often three feet in length, being rang ed alternately ; the branches, or princi pal leaves, are six, eight, ten, and twelve feet long, the length varying according to the age and size of the plant ; the flow ers are male and female upon the same or different roots, except in the water soldier, which bears hermaphrodite flow ers only ; and the palmetto, in which the flowers are hermaphrodite and male upon distinct. roots. In vallisneria and
frog's-bit, too, the flowers are not so pro perly male and female upon different roots, as barren hermaphrodites ; a small seed-bud being discovered in those called the male flowers, and the remains of sta mina in the female. Abortive flowers of the same kind are frequently observed in vallisneria upon the same root. The common calyx in this order is that sort termed a spatha, or sheath, and has either one valve or opening, as in date-tree and cocoa-nut; or two, as in faufel-nut, and wild Malabar-palm. The spadex, or head of flowers protruded from the sheath, is generally branched. Each flower is monly furnished with a perianthium, or proper flower-cup, consisting of three leaves or divisions, that are small and permanent ; the petals are three in num ber, of a substance like leather, and per manent like the leaves of the calyx. The flowers of zamia have no petals ; the sta mina are in n mberfrom two to twenty, and upwards, and cohere slightly at the base. In frog's-bit they appear I ike a pillar in the centre of the flower ; the seed-buds are from one to th re e in number, placed in the middle of the flower, and support a like number of styles, which are very short. In frog's-bit, vallisneria, and water-sol dier, the seed-bud is placed under the receptacle of the flower ; the seed ves sel is generally a pulpy fruit of the berry or cherry kind, containing one cell, filled with fibrous flesh, and covered with a skin, which is of a substance like lea ther ; the seeds are in number from one to three in each pulpy fruit, of a hard bony substance, round or oval, and at tached by their base to the bottom of the fruit.