CHAMÆLEON, in zoology, the trivial name of a species of Lacerta.

CHAMÆPITYS, in botany. See Teucrium.

CHAMÆROPIS, DWARF PALM, or PALMETTO; a genus of the palmes flabellifoliae of Linnaeus. There are two species, the most remarkable of which is the glabra, a native of the West Indies, and warm parts of America, also of the corresponding latitudes of Asia and Africa. It never rises with a tall stem; but when the plants are old, their leaves are five or six feet long, and upwards of two feet broad; these spread open like a fan, having many foldings, and at the top are deeply divided like the fingers of a hand. This plant the Americans call thatch, from the use to which the leaves are applied.—Under the name of palmetto, however, Mr Adanson describes a species of palm which grows naturally at Senegal, whole trunk rises from 50 to 60 feet in height: from the upper end of the trunk issues a bundle of leaves, which, in turning off, form a round head; each leaf represents a fan of five or six feet in expansion, supported by a tail of the same length. Of these trees, some produce male flowers, which are consequently barren; others are female, and loaded with fruit, which succeed each other uninterruptedly almost the whole year round. The fruit of the large palmettos, Mr Adanson affirms to be of the bigness of an ordinary melon, but rounder: it is enveloped in two skins as tough as leather, and as thick as strong parchment; within the fruit is yellowish, and full of filaments faltered to three large kernels in the middle. The negroes are very fond of this fruit, which, when baked under the ashes, is said to taste like a quince.

The little palmetto may be easily raised in this country from seeds brought from America; but, as the plants are tender, they must be constantly kept in a bark-stove.