244 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 
three carpels. But.they are not the same resemblances that are 
shown in Phoenix and they afford no indication that Pseudophoenix 
is at all related to the true date palms. They furnish additional 
proof, if any were needed, of the derivation of the pinnate-leaved 
palms from fan-leaved ancestors, but the fact that some of the 
ancestral features have been retained should not cause profound 
differences in other respects to be overlooked. 
ALLEGED RELATIONSHIPS WITH OTHER PINNATE-LEAVED 
PALMS. 
Sargent states that the original example of the palm, on Elliotts 
Key, was at first mistaken for a royal palm (Roystonea). The 
resemblance lay in the smooth, columnar trunk, the irregular posi- 
tions of the pinnex, and the elongated, sheathing leaf bases, but it 
became apparent that these similarities were merely external, as 
soon as the inflorescences and fruits were examined.! 
Wendland at first suggested an affinity with Chamaedorea and after- 
ward with Gaussia, in which Drude seems to have agreed. Gaussia 
is a Cuban genus of Synechanthaceae, while Chamaedorea belongs to 
a strictly continental group, chiefly Central American. In addition 
to the geographical proximity there is a slight resemblance between 
Pseudophoenix and the Synechanthaceae, both in the habit of growth 
and in the crowded, deeply furrowed pinne. Moreover, the seeds of 
Pseudophoenix are marked on the surface with a few impressed 
branches of the raphe, much as in Synechanthus. But such similari- 
ties are shared by so many other palms that they are of very little 
account as evidences of relationship. There is a complete contrast 
between the highly specialized inflorescence characters of the Syne- 
chanthaceae and the relatively primitive condition represented by 
Pseudophoenix. 
The characters that afford the most definite suggestions regarding 
the affinities of Pseudophoenix are found in the fruits. The fruit 
characters indicate that Pseudophoenix is much more closely related 
to the ivory palms, or even to the coconut palms, than to Chamae- 
dorea or to Gaussia. With only the dried fruits, as represented in 
herbarium specimens, it is easy to overlook some of the most sugges- 
tive features. New characters have been learned from fresh material 
of the ripe fruits, sent in by Mr. E. Simmonds from Miami, Florida, 
‘Sargent, C. 8. New or Little Known Plants. Pseudophoenix sargenti. Gard. & 
For. 1: 352. f. 55, 56. 1888. The figures consist of a photograph of a group of the palms 
on “Long’s Key” and drawings of the fruits and seeds. Wendland’s Latin diagnosis 
is given. A preliminary notice of the palm, with the name ‘‘ Pseudophoenix sar- 
gentii H. Wendland,”’ had been published two years before, in the Botanical Gazette 
(11: 314. 1886). Sargent’s most complete account of Pseudophoenix is in the Silva 
of North America (10: 33. pl. 506. 1896.) The localities mentioned in the Silva 
are Elliotts Key and Key Largo. 
