Geonoma.2 EQUATOllIAli-AMERICAK PALMS. 101 



contain but one flower each, and that one is $ , the lateral cf 

 flowers being obsolete ; and on other spadices only the two d 

 flowers of each alveole reach maturity, the included $ flower re- 

 maining small and effete within the alveole. Spadices of these 

 two types often alternate on the same stem. 



The various modes in which the alveoles are arranged on the 

 spadix afford characters for distinguishing the species. lu many 

 Geonomce they are set round the rhachis in 5, 6, or 8 longitudinal 

 rows ; but it is scarcely correct to say, as has been said of most 

 species *, that t\xe flowers are " tri- plurifariam imbricati ; " for (1) 

 the alveoles and not the flowers are meant, and (2) they rarely 

 stand so closely as to actually imbricate each other, at least in 

 species hitherto described, although in my two new species, densi- 

 flm^a and personata, and in Wendland's congesta^ they are in rea- 

 lity widely imbricated. These isostichous alveoles recall the 

 similarly disposed leaves of many Meteoria among mosses, and of 

 some Lycopodia, 



Spathes. — Each spadix is at first included in two spathes, aiid 

 emerges from them by bursting through their interior face, or, 

 more rarely, through one edge. The spathes are elongato-fusi- 

 form, in most cases a good deal flattened, and alw^ays ancipitous, 

 the edges being often dilated into wings ; and in a few species 

 the dorsal edge of the outer spadix is replaced, especially near the 

 apex, by a pair of parallel keels or wings. They vary in length 

 from barely 2 inches in G. microspatha to a foot and a half in (7. 

 undata^ and are mostly of tender chaffy consistence, breaking up 

 lengthwise and falling away sometimes before the flowers are well 

 opened. In a few species the spathes are firmer and more endu- 

 ring ; and in nearly all cases perfect spathes (of spadices not yet 

 evolved) may be found in the upper axils of the growing stem, 

 although wanting to the flowering or fruiting spadices. They 

 are, when young, densely clad with ferruginous tomentum, which, 

 however, is easily rubbed off, and in age is usually quite ob- 

 literated. 



Flowers. — Each alveole contains normally (as above said) three 



flowers, a female between two males. The flowers (usually about 

 half-immersed) are trigonous and ovoid in the bud, and somewhat 

 obliijue or gibbous. Their outer angle is obtuse, and the lateral 

 (inner) angles acute, which arises from the outer sepal being 



* VldeKmiih, Enuiuur. Plant, iii. pp. 229-231. 



