RELATIONSHIPS OF THE FALSE DATE PALM. 949 
suggestive of pedicels, but these are only small, cushion-like promi- 
nences, whereas in Pseudophoenix the pedicels are an even more 
prominent and specialized feature than in any of the fan palms. 
Apart from the pedicels, the fruit characters of Pseudophoenix sug- 
gest affinity with the Cocaceae, Manicariaceae, and Phytelephantaceae, 
as already stated. The external appearance, as well us the texture of 
the exocarp, 1s much the same as in Bactris and other related genera 
of cocoid palms, such as Trichobactris, Curima, and Tilmia. Yet 
there are three independent seeds, as in Manicaria, instead of a com- 
posite, fused endocarp as in the Cocaceae. The resemblance to the 
ivory palms is in the structure of the endocarp, in which there is almost 
complete agreement, in spite of the enormous differences in the size 
of the fruits and in the structures of the exocarp and epidermis. 
The following analytical key states the most: obvious external 
characters of the fruits, those that enable the Pseudophoenicaceae to 
be distinguished from the other related families, even without refer- 
ence to the more minute details of structure or to other parts of the 
plant. Though these differences might not in themselves be con- 
sidered of family importance, they afford simple means of recognizing 
the different groups. 
ANALYTICAL KEY TO FAMILIES BASED ON FRUIT CHARACTERS. 
Fruits with endocarps completely coalesced to form a 
solid shell, usually with a single cavity containing 
a single embryo and endosperm.........----------- COCACEAE. 
Fruits with free endocarps, usually developing two or 
more separate seeds. 
Fruits with a thin, smooth, membranous epidermis. ... PSEUDOPHOENICACEAE, 
Fruits covered with a thick, rough, corky epidermis. 
Fruits with numerous (4 to 9) seeds, borne in dense 
heads on a simple inflorescence........-.---------- PHYTELEPHANTACEAE. 
Fruits with only 1 to 3 seeds, borne in loose clusters on a 
branched inflorescence............-+-2-e2 eee eee eee MANICARIACEAE, 
COMPARISON OF PSEUDOPHOENIX WITH THE WAX PALMS OF 
COLOMBIA. 
Another group of palms that may prove to have affinities with 
Pseudophoenix is the wax palms (Ceroxylaceae), which grow at high 
altitudes in the mountains of Colombia. Like Pseudophoenix the 
wax palms retain several obvious evidences of derivation from fan 
palms. Jn addition to large compound inflorescences, rather unspe- 
cialized flowers, and fruits borne on short pedicels, the Ceroxylaceae 
share with the palmettos the habit of producing in the juvenile stage 
a creeping rootstock before commencing to form an erect trunk. In 
this respect Ceroxylon shows a definite contrast with Pseudophoenix, 
in which the seed germinates by sending down a burrowing cotyledon 
quite as in Phytelephas and Attalea. 
