RELATIONSHIPS OF THE FALSE DATE PALM. 947 
fect flowers as long as or longer than the pistils, but forming a much more slender- 
pointed column tapering to a narrow, three-pointed apex. (Pus. 74, 75, a, b.) 
Fruits with a thin, smooth epidermis composed of a mosaic of polygonal cells very 
irregular in size and shape, with scattering stomata. Exocarp represented by a fleshy 
pulp with two distinguishable layers, the outer of rather watery consistency richly 
supplied with raphides, the inner firmer and more fibrous, containing oil globules and 
spiral vessels. Endocarp smooth, with a closely adherent outer coating of whitish 
material, asin Phytelephas, and an inner layer hard and bony, composed of columnar 
cells. (Pu. 76.) 
Seed covered with a closely adherent, fibrillar membrane. Surface slightly im- 
pressed by the branches of the raphe, these usually six in number, three on each side, 
the lower pair short. Albumen uniform, bony, solid. Embryosubbasal. (Pts. 76, 77.) 
Germination as in Attalea and Phytelephas, by the emergence of a burrowing 
cotyledon that carries the plumule down into the soil. Cotyledon emerging through 
an operculate aperture of the endocarp, as in Phytelephas. First two leaves repre- 
sented by bladeless sheaths. A long, fleshy primary radicle developed directly from 
the cotyledon before the leaves begin to grow. (Pt. 75, d.) 
EXPLANATION OF PLATE 74,—One of the primary branches of the inflorescence with mature flower buds 
and with four detached open flowers. Natural size. 
EXPLANATION OF PLATE 75.—a, Staminate flowers; b, bisexual flowers; c, main axis of inflorescence with 
bases of primary branches showing smooth surfaces of axillary pulvini and subtending bracts; d, young 
seedling, showing method of germination with burrowing cotyledon and long primary radicle. a, b, Scale 
about 2; c, d, natural size. . 
EXPLANATION OF PLATE 76.—Ripe fruits with attached pedicels and floral parts, the different forms of 
the fruits depending on whether one, two, or three of the carpels develop; also three seeds with flesh re- 
moved, one with the endocarp, one naked, and one in vertical section. All natural size, 
EXPLANATION OF PLATE 77.—Segments of leaf and branch of inflorescence with dried fruits; also a seed 
showing radiating branches of the raphe and a seed in vertical section showing the position of the embryo. 
All natural size. 
Plates 74, 75, and 76 represent material from cultivated trees growing in the Plant Introduction Garden 
of the U. 8. Department of Agriculture, at Miami, Fla.; received in February and August, 1912, Plate 77 
represents a specimen collected on Long Key, Fla., by A. H. Curtiss (no. 5637), April 25, 1896; U.S. National 
Herbarium, no. 280541. , 
FLORAL PECULIARITIES OF PSEUDOPHOENIX. 
The flowers of Pseudophoenix show several noteworthy peculiarities, 
although they are only slightly specialized in the direction followed 
by most other palms, the separation of the sexes. The sexual speciali- 
zation extends only to the loss of function in the pistils of a part of the 
flowers, and especially in those that are borne at the ends of the 
branches. But the pistils of the staminate flowers are not much 
reduced and there are only slight differences in other respects. It 
was noticed by Mr. C. B. Doyle, in preparing the photographs for the 
plates, that the pedicels of the staminate flowers were somewhat more 
slender, the buds somewhat narrower, and the stamens a little larger, 
but all the differences are slight and might easily be overlooked. The 
lowest bud shown on plate 74 was probably staminate, while most of 
the others were bisexual. Wendland and Sargent described the 
flowers as monecious, evidently on the assumption that the persistent 
filaments attached to the ripe fruits represented staminodes instead 
of functional stamens. 
The floral specializations of Pseudophoenix are in the external 
organs rather than in the internal. The long pedicels jointed at the 
