OF FORKED AND BRANCHED PALMS. 



291 



the tableland of Afghanistan and Beloo- 

 chistan, and extending into Kashmir. It 

 is generally stemless, the tufts of leaves 

 arising from a creeping underground rhi- 

 zome. A stem is, however, produced under 

 favourable circumstances. Dr. Aitchison 

 states * : — "At Alizai I succeeded in procu- 

 ring for tbe Museum at Kew a branching 



A T . 



duction of branches in this palm is due, I 

 believe, to the arrest of the large inflores- 



cence," The specimen brought by Dr. 

 Aitchison is about 10 feet high, and there 

 are fifteen branches alternately arranged 

 on the trunk (fig. 4). According to a 

 further note by Dr. Aitchison f, this palm 

 was " frequently seen occurring in sheltered 

 places as a branching tree of from 15 to 25 

 feet in height.' * 



BoRASsrs flabelliformis, Z. Palmvra 

 Palm. 



A large fan-leaved palm of the East 

 Indies and Tropical Africa. It has a stout 

 stem 60 to 100 feet high. It is a toddy- 



yielding palm, and 



large 



quantities of 



jaggery sugar are obtained from it. This 

 species is not infrequently found in a 

 branched state. It is described (Gen. 

 Plant, iii. p. 939), " interdum apicem 

 versus furcato v. pauci-ramoso." It is a 

 marked feature in the branching of the 

 Palmyra palm that the number of branches 



is very numerous, often so high as forty 

 and seldom below four. The stems are either 

 forked as in Hyphcene, or they sometimes 

 emerge in a whorl almost at right angles 

 to the main trunk. Both sorts are shown 

 in Dr. Andy's paper already cited £. 





j£ 



Fig. 4. 



■ ** — - — 



z-~ 



E*_— - 



*-. - 



W 1 j -% 



A 



,^I-3f£ 



: ** * % 



W ¥ gg 



- ' "*! 



i - 



.' - i- 



• > 



»*«* 



A #5fi 



d ZJ 





\ * 



/ 



' 



f 



1/' 



H* 



• * Tl 



F * 



r- 



T-'J, 



m 



^•dC 



1 * 



A 4 



* Journ. Linn. Soc. (Bot.) xix. p. 140 (with figure), 

 t Gard. Cbron. ser. III. ii. (1886), p. 652. 



I Trans. Linn. Soc. xxvi. p. 061, pi. Ii. 



Branching stem of Xan- 

 norhops Ritchicana (Kew 

 Museum). 



