Leaves opposite or ternate, often slightly spreading at apex, acute or occasionally acuminate, much thickened and rounded on the back, usually glandular, denticulately fringed, gray-green, rather less than ⅛′ long, turning bright red-brown before falling; on vigorous shoots and young plants ovate, acute, tipped with long rigid points, thin, conspicuously glandular on the back, often ½′ long. Flowers: male with 8—10 stamens, their broadly ovate, rounded or pointed connectives slightly erose on the margins: female with spreading pointed scales. Fruit subglobose or short-oblong, ⅛′—¼′ long, dark blue or perhaps occasionally light chestnut-brown with a thick firm skin covered with a thin glaucous bloom, thin flesh, and 1 or rarely 2 seeds; seeds often protruding from the top of the fruit, ovoid, often 4-angled, somewhat obtuse at apex, with a small hilum, and 2 cotyledons.
A tree, occasionally 40°—50° high, with a stout much-lobed and buttressed trunk sometimes 3° in diameter, short stout branches forming an open very irregular head, and slender branchlets covered after the falling of the leaves with light red-brown bark spreading freely into thin loose scales; more often a much branched shrub sometimes only a few feet high. Bark ashy gray, divided into irregularly connected ridges, separating into long narrow persistent shreddy scales. Wood heavy, slightly fragrant, light reddish brown, with nearly white sapwood and eccentric layers of annual growth; largely used for fencing and fuel. The fruit is ground into flour and baked by the Indians, who use the thin strips of fibrous bark in making saddles, breechcloths, and sleeping-mats.
Distribution. Along the eastern base of the Rocky Mountains from the valley of the Platte River, Wyoming (near Alcova, Natrona County) and the divide between the Platte and Arkansas rivers in Colorado; western Oklahoma (near Kenton, Cimarron County, common) and western Texas; on the Colorado plateau, northern Arizona; over the mountain ranges of southwestern Wyoming, Nevada, southern New Mexico and Arizona, and southward into northern Mexico; often covering, with the Nut Pine, in southern Colorado and Utah, and in northern and central New Mexico and Arizona, great areas of rolling hills 6000°—7000° above the sea-level; reaching its largest size in northern Arizona.
9. Juniperus mexicana Spreng. Cedar. Rock Cedar.
Juniperus sabinoides Nees.
Leaves usually opposite or ternate, thickened and keeled on the back, obtuse or acute at apex, mostly without glands, denticulately fringed, rather more than 1/16′ long, dark blue-green, on vigorous young shoots and seedling plants lanceolate, long-pointed, rigid, ¼′—½′ long. Flowers: male with 12—18 stamens, their connectives ovoid, obtuse, or slightly cuspidate: scales of the female flower ovate, acute, and spreading, very conspicuous when the fruit is half grown, becoming obliterated at its maturity. Fruit short-oblong to subglobose, ¼′—½′ in diameter, dark blue, with a thin skin covered with a glaucous bloom, sweet resinous flesh, and 1 or 2 seeds; seeds ovoid, acute, slightly ridged, rarely tuberculate, dark chestnut-brown, with a small hilum, a thin outer seed-coat, a membranaceous dark brown inner coat, and 2 cotyledons.
A tree, occasionally 100° but generally not more than 20°—30° high, with a short or elongated slightly lobed trunk seldom exceeding a foot in diameter, small spreading branches forming a wide round-topped open and irregular or a narrow pyramidal head, slender sharply 4-angled branchlets becoming terete after the falling of the leaves, light reddish brown or ashy gray, with smooth or slightly scaly bark; often a shrub, with numerous spreading stems. Bark on old trees ¼′—½′ thick, brown tinged with red, and divided into long narrow slightly attached scales persistent for many years and clothing the trunk with a loose thatch-like covering. Wood light, hard, not strong, slightly fragrant, brown streaked with red; largely used for fencing, fuel, telegraph-poles, and railway-ties.
Distribution. From Brazos County over the low limestone hills of western and southern Texas, and southward into Mexico; forming great thickets and growing to its largest size on the San Bernardo River; much smaller farther westward, and usually shrubby at the limits of vegetation on the high mountains of central Mexico.
10. Juniperus virginiana L. Red Cedar. Savin.
Leaves usually opposite, acute or acuminate or occasionally obtuse, rounded and glandular or eglandular on the back, about 1/16′ long, dark blue-green or glaucous (var. glauca Carr.), at the north turning russet or yellow-brown during the winter, beginning in their third season to grow hard and woody, and remaining two or three years longer on the branches, on young plants and vigorous branchlets linear-lanceolate, long-pointed, light yellow-green, without glands, ½′—¾′ long. Flowers: diœcious or very rarely monœcious: male with 10 or 12 stamens, their connectives rounded and entire, with 4 or occasionally 5 or 6 pollen-sacs; scales of the female flower violet color, acute and spreading, becoming obliterated from the fruit. Fruit subglobose, ¼′—⅓′ in diameter, pale green when fully grown, dark blue and covered with a glaucous bloom at maturity, with a firm skin, thin sweetish resinous flesh, and 1 or 2 or rarely 3 or 4 seeds; seeds acute and occasionally apiculate at apex, ⅙′—⅛′ long, with a comparatively small 2-lobed hilum, and 2 cotyledons.
A tree, occasionally 100° high, with a trunk 3°—4° in diameter, often lobed and eccentric, and frequently buttressed toward the base, generally not more than 40°—50° tall, with short slender branches horizontal on the lower part of the tree, erect above, forming a narrow compact pyramidal head, in old age usually becoming broad and round-topped or irregular, and slender branchlets terete after the disappearance of the leaves and covered with close dark brown bark tinged with red or gray; on exposed cliffs on the coast of Maine, sometimes only a few inches high with long branches forming broad dense mats. Bark ⅛′—¼′ thick, light brown tinged with red, and separated into long narrow scales fringed on the margins, and persistent for many years. Wood light, close-grained, brittle, not strong, dull red, with thin nearly white sapwood, very fragrant, easily worked; largely used for posts, the sills of buildings, the interior finish of houses, the lining of closets and chests for the preservation of woolens against the attacks of moths, and largely for pails and other small articles of wooden ware. A decoction of the fruit and leaves is used in medicine, and oil of red cedar distilled from the leaves and wood as a perfume.
Distribution. Dry gravelly slopes and rocky ridges, often immediately on the seacoast, from southern Nova Scotia and New Brunswick to the coast of Georgia, the interior of southern Alabama and Mississippi, and westward to the valley of the lower Ottawa River, southern Michigan, eastern North and South Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas, and eastern Texas, not ascending the mountains of New England and New York nor the high southern Alleghanies; in middle Kentucky and Tennessee, and northern Alabama and Mississippi, covering great areas of low rolling limestone hills with nearly pure forests of small bushy trees.
Often cultivated, in several forms, in the northern and eastern states as an ornamental tree and occasionally in the gardens of western and central Europe.
11. Juniperus lucayana Britt. Red Cedar.
Juniperus barbadensis Sarg., not L.
Leaves usually opposite, narrow, acute, or gradually narrowed above the middle and acuminate, marked on the back by conspicuous oblong glands. Flowers opening in early March: male elongated, ⅛′ to nearly ¼′ long, with 10 or 12 stamens, their connectives rounded, entire, and bearing usually 3 pollen-sacs: female with scales gradually narrowed above the middle, acute at apex, and obliterated from the ripe fruit. Fruit subglobose to short-oblong, dark blue, covered when ripe with a glaucous bloom, about 1/24′ in diameter, with a thin skin, sweet resinous flesh, and 1 or 2 seeds; seeds acute, prominently ridged.
A tree, sometimes 50° high, with a trunk occasionally 2° in diameter, small branches erect when the tree is crowded in the forest, spreading when it has grown in open ground and forming a broad flat-topped head often 30° or 40° in diameter, long thin secondary branches erect at the top of the tree and pendulous below, and pendulous branchlets about 1/24′ in diameter, becoming light red-brown or ashy gray at the end of four or five years after the disappearance of the leaves. Bark thin, light red-brown, separating into long thin scales. Wood light, close, straight-grained, fragrant, dull red; formerly exclusively used in the manufacture of the best lead pencils.
Distribution. Inundated river swamps from southern Georgia, southward to the shores of the Indian River, Florida, and on the west coast of Florida from the northern shores of Charlotte Harbor to the valley of the Apalachicola River, often forming great thickets under the shade of larger trees; along streams and creeks in low woods near Houston, Harris County, and Milano, Milano County, Texas (E. J. Palmer); common in the Bahamas, San Domingo, eastern Cuba, and on the mountains of Jamaica and Antigua.
Often planted for the decoration of squares and cemeteries in the cities and towns in the neighborhood of the coast from Florida to western Louisiana, and now often naturalized beyond the limits of its natural range on the Gulf coast; occasionally cultivated in the temperate countries of Europe, and in cultivation the most beautiful of the Junipers.
12. Juniperus scopulorum Sarg. Red Cedar.
Leaves usually opposite, closely appressed, acute or acuminate, generally marked on the back by obscure elongated glands, dark green, or often pale and very glaucous. Flowers: male with about 6 stamens, their connectives rounded and entire, bearing 4 or 5 anther-sacs: scales of the female flower spreading, acute or acuminate, and obliterated from the mature fruit. Fruit ripening at the end of the second season, nearly globose, ¼′—⅓′ in diameter, bright blue, with a thin skin covered with a glaucous bloom, sweet resinous flesh, and 1 or usually 2 seeds; seeds acute, prominently grooved and angled, about 3/16′ long, with a thick bony outer coat and a small 2-lobed hilum.
A tree, 30°—40° high, with a short stout trunk sometimes 3° in diameter, often divided near the ground into a number of stout spreading stems, thick spreading and ascending branches covered with scaly bark, forming an irregular round-topped head, and slender 4-angled branchlets becoming at the end of three or four years terete and clothed with smooth pale bark separating later into thin scales. Bark dark reddish brown or gray tinged with red, divided-by shallow fissures into narrow flat connected ridges broken on the surface into persistent shredded scales.
Distribution. Scattered often singly over dry rocky ridges, usually at altitudes of 5000° or 6000° but occasionally ascending in Colorado to 9000° above the sea, from the eastern foothill region of the Rocky Mountains from Alberta to the Black Hills of South Dakota, the valley of the Niobrara River, Sheridan County, northwestern Nebraska (J. M. Bates) and to western Texas and eastern and northern New Mexico, and westward to eastern Oregon, Nevada, and northern Arizona; descending to the sea-level in Washington on the shores of the northern part of Puget Sound and on the islands and mainland about the Gulf of Georgia, British Columbia.
II. TAXACEÆ.
Slightly resinous trees and shrubs, producing when cut vigorous stump shoots, with fissured or scaly bark, light-colored durable close-grained wood, slender branchlets, linear-lanceolate entire rigid acuminate spirally disposed leaves, usually appearing 2-ranked by a twist in their short compressed petioles and persistent for many years, and small ovoid acute buds. Flowers opening in early spring from buds formed the previous autumn, diœcious or monœcious, axillary and solitary, surrounded by the persistent decussate scales of the buds, the male composed of numerous filaments united into a column, each filament surmounted by several more or less united pendant pollen-cells; the female of a single erect ovule, becoming at maturity a seed with a hard bony shell, raised upon or more or less surrounded by the enlarged and fleshy aril-like disk of the flower; embryo axile, in fleshy ruminate or uniform albumen; cotyledons 2, shorter than the superior radicle. Of the ten genera widely distributed over the two hemispheres, two occur in North America.
CONSPECTUS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN GENERA.
- Filaments dilated into 4 pollen-sacs united into a half ring; seeds drupe-like, green or purple, ripening at the end of the second season; albumen ruminate.
- 1. Torreya.
- Filaments dilated into a globose head of 4—8 connate pollen-sacs; seeds berry-like, scarlet, ripening at the end of the first season; albumen uniform.
- 2. Taxus.
1. TORREYA ARN.
Tumion Raf.
Glabrous fœtid or pungent aromatic trees, with fissured bark and verticillate or opposite spreading or drooping branches. Leaves thin, long-pointed, abruptly contracted at base, dark green, lustrous and slightly rounded above, thickened and revolute on the margins, with pale bands of stomata on each side of the midvein on the lower surface. Flowers diœcious; the male crowded in the axils of adjacent leaves, on shoots of the previous year, oval or oblong, composed of 6 or 8 close whorls each of 4 stamens, subverticillately arranged on a slender axis; filaments stout and expanded above into 4 globose yellow pollen-sacs united into a half ring, their connectives produced above the cells; the female on shoots of the year less numerous and scattered, sessile, the ovule surrounded by and finally inclosed in an ovoid urn-shaped fleshy sac, and becoming at the end of the second season an oblong-ovate yellow-brown seed, rounded and apiculate at apex, acute and marked at base by the large dark hilum; seed-coat thick and woody, its inner layer folded into the thick white albumen, surrounded and finally inclosed in the thick green or purple enlarged disk of the flower composed of thin flat easily separable fibers, splitting longitudinally when ripe into two parts and separating from the basal scales persistent on the short stout stalk of the seed.
Torreya is now confined to Florida and Georgia, western California, Japan, the island of Quelpart, and central and northern China. Four species are recognized. Of the exotic species the Japanese Torreya nucifera S. & Z. is occasionally cultivated in the eastern states.
The genus is named in honor of Dr. John Torrey, the distinguished American botanist.
CONSPECTUS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN SPECIES.
- Leaves slightly rounded on the back, pale below; leaves, branches, and wood fœtid; branchlets gray or yellowish green.
- 1. T. taxifolia (C).
- Leaves nearly flat, green below; leaves, branches and wood pungent-aromatic; branchlets reddish brown.
- 2. T. californica (G).
1. Torreya taxifolia Arn. Stinking Cedar. Torreya.
Tumion taxifolium Greene.
Leaves slightly falcate, 1½′ long, about ⅛′ wide, somewhat rounded, dark green and lustrous above, paler and marked below with broad bands of stomata. Flowers appearing in March and April; male with pale yellow anthers; female broadly ovoid, with a dark purple fleshy covering to the ovule, ⅛′ long, and inclosed at the base by broad thin rounded scales. Seed fully grown at midsummer, slightly obovoid, dark purple, 1′—1¼′ long, ¾′ thick, with a thin leathery covering, a light red-brown seed-coat furnished on the inner surface with 2 opposite longitudinal thin ridges extending from the base toward the apex, and conspicuously ruminate albumen.
A tree, occasionally 40° high, with a short trunk 1°—2° in diameter, whorls of spreading slightly pendulous branches forming a rather open pyramidal head tapering from a broad base. Bark ½′ thick, brown faintly tinged with orange color, and irregularly divided by broad shallow fissures into wide low ridges slightly rounded on the back and covered with thin closely appressed scales. Wood hard, strong, clear bright yellow, with thin lighter colored sapwood; largely used for fence-posts.
Distribution. On bluffs along the eastern bank of the Apalachicola River, Florida, from River Junction to the neighborhood of Bristol, Liberty County, and in the southwestern corner of Decatur County, Georgia (R. M. Harper). Rare and local.
Now often planted in the public grounds and gardens of Tallahassee, Florida.
2. Torreya californica Torr. California Nutmeg.
Tumion californicum Greene.
Leaves slightly falcate, nearly flat, dark green and lustrous on the upper, somewhat paler and marked below with a narrow band of stomata, tipped with slender callous points, 1′—3½′ long, 1/16′—⅛′ wide. Flowers appearing in March and April; male with broadly ovate acute scales; female nearly ¼′ long, with oblong-ovate rounded scales. Seed ovoid or oblong-ovoid, 1′—1½′ long, light green more or less streaked with purple.
A tree, 50°—70° but occasionally 100° high, with a trunk 1°—2° or rarely 4° in diameter, and whorls of spreading slender slightly pendulous branches forming a handsome pyramidal and in old age a round-topped head. Bark ⅓′—½′ thick, gray-brown tinged with orange color, deeply and irregularly divided by broad fissures into narrow ridges covered with elongated loosely appressed plate-like scales. Wood light, soft, close-grained, clear light yellow, with thin nearly white sapwood; occasionally used for fence-posts.
Distribution. Borders of mountain streams, California, nowhere common but widely distributed from Mendocino County to the Santa Cruz Mountains in the coast region and along the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada from Eldorado to Tulare Counties at altitudes of 3000°—5000° above the sea; most abundant and of its largest size on the northern coast ranges.
Rarely cultivated as an ornamental tree in California and western Europe.
2. TAXUS L. Yew.
Trees or shrubs, with brown or dark purple scaly bark, and spreading usually horizontal branches. Leaves flat, often falcate, gradually narrowed at the base, dark green, smooth and keeled on the upper surface, paler, papillate, and stomatiferous on the lower surface, their margins slightly thickened and revolute. Flowers diœcious or monœcious: the male composed of a slender stipe bearing at the apex a globular head of 4—8 pale yellow stamens consisting of 4—6 conic pendant pollen-sacs peltately connate from the end of a short filament; the female sessile in the axils of the upper scale-like bracts of a short axillary branch, the ovule erect, sessile on a ring-like disk, ripening in the autumn into an ovoid-oblong seed gradually narrowed and short-pointed at apex, marked at base by the much-depressed hilum, about ⅓′ long, entirely or nearly surrounded by but free from the now thickened succulent translucent sweet scarlet aril-like disk of the flower open at apex; seed-coat thick, of two layers, the outer thin and membranaceous or fleshy, the inner much thicker and somewhat woody; albumen uniform.
Taxus with six or seven species, which can be distinguished only by their leaf characters and habit, is widely distributed through the northern hemisphere, and is found in eastern North America where two species occur, in Pacific North America, Mexico, Europe, northern Africa, western and southern Asia, China, and Japan. Of the exotic species the European, African, and Asiatic Taxus baccata L., and its numerous varieties, is often cultivated in the United States, especially in the more temperate parts of the country, and is replaced with advantage by the hardier Taxus cuspidata S. & Z., of eastern Asia in the northern states, where the native shrubby Taxus canadensis Marsh, with monœcious flowers is sometimes cultivated.
Taxus, from τάξος, is the classical name of the Yew-tree.
CONSPECTUS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN ARBORESCENT SPECIES.
- Leaves usually short, yellow-green.
- 1. T. brevifolia (G).
- Leaves elongated, usually falcate, dark green.
- 2. T. floridana (C).
1. Taxus brevifolia Nutt. Yew.
Leaves ½′—1′ long, about 1/16′ wide, dark yellow-green above, rather paler below, with stout midribs, and slender yellow petioles 1/12′ long, persistent for 5—12 years. Flowers and fruit as in the genus.
A tree, usually 40°—50° but occasionally 70°—80° high, with a tall straight trunk 1°—2° or rarely 4½° in diameter, frequently unsymmetrical, with one diameter much exceeding the other, and irregularly lobed, with broad rounded lobes, and long slender horizontal or slightly pendulous branches forming a broad open conical head. Bark about ¼′ thick and covered with small thin dark red-purple scales. Wood heavy, hard, strong, bright red, with thin light yellow sapwood; used for fence-posts and by the Indians of the northwest coast for paddles, spear-handles, bows, and other small articles.
Distribution. Banks of mountain streams, deep gorges, and damp ravines, growing usually under large coniferous trees; nowhere abundant, but widely distributed usually in single individuals or in small clumps from the extreme southern part of Alaska, southward along the coast ranges of British Columbia, Washington, and Oregon, where it attains its greatest size; along the coast ranges of California as far south as the Bay of Monterey, and along the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada to Tulare County at altitudes between 5000° and 8000° above the sea-level, ranging eastward in British Columbia to the Selkirk Mountains, and over the mountains of Washington and Oregon to the western slopes of the continental divide in northern Montana; in the interior much smaller than near the coast and often shrubby in habit.
Occasionally cultivated in the gardens of western Europe.
2. Taxus floridana Chapm. Yew.
Leaves usually conspicuously falcate, ¾′ to nearly 1′ long, 1/16′—1/12′ wide, dark green above, pale below, with obscure midribs and slender petioles about 1/16′ in length. Flowers appearing in March. Fruit ripening in October.
A bushy tree, rarely 25° high, with a short trunk occasionally 1° in diameter, and numerous stout spreading branches; more often shrubby in habit and 12°—15° tall. Bark ⅛′ thick, dark purple-brown, smooth, compact, occasionally separating into large thin irregular plate-like scales. Wood heavy, hard, very close-grained, dark brown tinged with red, with thin nearly white sapwood.
Distribution. River bluffs and ravines on the eastern bank of the Apalachicola River, in Gadsden County, Florida, from Aspalaga to the neighborhood of Bristol.
Class 2. ANGIOSPERMÆ.
Carpels or pistils consisting of a closed cavity containing the ovules and becoming the fruit.
Division 1. Monocotyledons.
Stems with woody fibres distributed irregularly through them, but without pith or annual layers of growth. Parts of the flower in 3’s; ovary superior; embryo with a single cotyledon. Leaves parallel-veined, alternate, long-persistent, without stipules.
III. PALMÆ.
Trees, growing by a single terminal bud, with stems covered with a thick rind, usually marked below by the ring-like scars of fallen leaf-stalks, and clothed above by their long-persistent sheaths; occasionally stemless. Leaves clustered at the top of the stem, plaited in the bud, fan-shaped or pinnate, their rachis sometimes reduced to a narrow border, long-stalked, with petioles dilated into clasping sheaths of tough fibres (vaginas); on fan-shaped leaves, furnished at the apex on the upper side with a thickened concave body (ligule). Flowers minute, perfect or unisexual, in the axils of small thin mostly deciduous bracts, in large compound clusters (spadix) surrounded by boat-shaped bracts (spathes); sepals and petals free or more or less united; stamens usually 6; anthers 2-celled, introrse, opening longitudinally; ovary 3-celled, with a single ovule in each cell; styles 1—3. Fruit a drupe or berry; embryo cylindric in a cavity of the hard albumen near the circumference of the seed. Of the 130 genera now usually recognized and chiefly inhabitants of the tropics, seven have arborescent representatives in the United States.
CONSPECTUS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN ARBORESCENT GENERA.
- Leaves fan-shaped.
- Leaf-stalks unarmed.
- Calyx and corolla united into a short 6-lobed perianth.
- Fruit white, drupaceous; albumen even.
- 1. Thrinax.
- Fruit black, baccate; albumen channeled.
- 2. Coccothrinax.
- Calyx and corolla distinct; fruit baccate.
- 3. Sabal.
- Leaf-stalks armed with marginal spines.
- Filaments slender, free; fruit baccate.
- 4. Washingtonia.
- Filaments triangular, united into a cup adnate to the base of the corolla; fruit drupaceous.
- 5. Acœlorraphe.
- Leaves pinnate.
- Flower-clusters produced on the stem below the leaves; fruit violet-blue.
- 6. Roystonea.
- Flower-clusters produced from among the leaves; fruit bright orange-scarlet.
- 7. Pseudophœnix.
1. THRINAX Sw.
Small unarmed trees, with stems covered with pale gray rind. Leaves orbicular, or truncate at the base, thick and firm, usually silvery white on the lower surface, divided to below the middle into narrow acuminate parted segments with thickened margins and midribs; rachis a narrow border, with thin usually undulate margins; ligule thick, concave, pointed, lined while young with hoary tomentum; petioles compressed, rounded above and below, thin and smooth on the margins, with large clasping bright mahogany-red sheaths of slender matted fibres covered with thick hoary tomentum. Spadix interfoliar, stalked, its primary branches short, alternate, flattened, incurved, with numerous slender rounded flower-bearing branchlets; spathes numerous, tubular, coriaceous, cleft and more or less tomentose at the apex. Flowers opening in May and June, and occasionally irregularly in the autumn, solitary, perfect; perianth 6-lobed; stamens inserted on the base of the perianth, with subulate filaments thickened and only slightly united at the base, or nearly triangular and united into a cup adnate to the perianth, and oblong anthers; ovary 1-celled, gradually narrowed into a stout columnar style crowned by a large funnel-formed flat or oblique stigma; ovule basilar, erect. Fruit a globose drupe with juicy bitter ivory-white flesh easily separable from the thin-shelled tawny brown nut. Seed free, erect, slightly flattened at the ends, with an oblong pale conspicuous subbasilar hilum, a short-branched raphe, a thin coat, and uniform albumen more or less deeply penetrated by a broad basal cavity; embryo lateral.
Thrinax is confined to the tropics of the New World and is distributed from southern Florida through the West Indies to the shores of Central America. Seven or eight species are now generally recognized.
The wood of the Florida species is light and soft, with numerous small fibro-vascular bundles, the exterior of the stem being much harder than the spongy interior. The stems are used for the piles of small wharves and turtle-crawls, and the leaves for thatch, and in making hats, baskets, and small ropes.
Thrinax, from θρῖναξ, is in allusion to the shape of the leaves.
CONSPECTUS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN SPECIES.
- 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).