Areca. | CXLVII. PALM& (WRIGHT), 99 
enlarging after flowering. Ovary entire, 3-celled; ovule erect, basal. 
Albumen ruminate.—Unarmed palms. Stems solitary or cespitose, 
annulate. Leaves in a terminal crown, equally pinnatisect. Spadix 
infrafoliaceous ; branches patent, pendulous in fruit ; spathes 3 to many, 
caducous. 
Species about 24, distributed through Tropical Asia, New Guinea, and Tropical 
Australia. 
1, A. Catechu, Linn. Sp. Pl. ed. i. 1189. Stem cylindrical, un- 
branched, 40-50 ft. high, 20 in. in diam., annulate. Leaves 6-9; 
petiole thick, concave above, convex beneath, sheathing and coriaceous 
at the base; leaflets many, opposite, broadly linear, acuminate, broad 
at the base, the lower 3-4 ft.long. Spadix 2-3 ft. long, much branched, 
male above, female below; spathes 2, boat-shaped, obtuse, striate, 
coriaceous; bracts 0. Male flowers sessile. Sepals 3, ovate, acute, 
Petals 3, much longer than the sepals, broadly ovate, acute, yellowish. 
Stamens 6; filaments short, more or less united into a column below; 
anthers dorsifixed. Female flowers sessile. Sepals 3, broadly ovate, 
fleshy, very thick in the centre, thin at the margins, concave, persistent. 
Staminodes none or forming a hypogynous 6-toothed ring. Ovary large, 
ovoid, acute, smooth, 3-celled; ovules solitary; stigmas 3, triangular, 
acute, papillose. Fruit ovoid, tapering upwards, 2-2} in. long, smooth, 
orange when mature, l-celled; pericarp at first soft, afterwards con- 
taining many distinct longitudinal fibres. Seed conic-globose, solitary, 
erect, 1 in. in diam.; testa very thin ; endosperm very hard, white or 
pinkish ; embryo small, basal.—Mart. Palm. 169, tt. 102, 149, fig. 4; 
Blume, Rumphia, ii. t. 102, fig. A; Bentl. & Trim. Med. Pl. t. 276; 
Engl. Pf. Ost-Afr. B. 15, C. 131; Hook. f. Fl. Brit. Ind. vi. 405. 
Mozamb. Dist. Zanzibar and coast of German East Africa, cultivated, ex 
Engler, 
Also in India, South China, and Malaya. 
2. PODOCOCCUS, Mann et Wendl. ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. 
Pl, iii. 915. 
Male flower: Sepals 3. Corolla stalked, 3-lobed. Stamens 6 ; fila- 
ments subulate, adnate at the base to the corolla-tube and to the 
rudiment of the ovary ; anthers oblong, cordate at the base, dorsifixed. 
Female flower: Sepals 3. Corolla stalked, trifid. Staminodes 6, very 
small. Ovary 3-celled; stigmas 3, recurved; ovule pendulous. Fruit 
baceate 1- (rarely 2—3-) seeded, with the stigmatic scar near its base. 
Seed surrounded by the branches of the raphe, which radiate from the 
hilum and anastomose towards their extremities; albumen homo- 
geneous; embryo dorsal,.at or below the middle of the albumen.— 
Slender unarmed palm. Stems reed-like, annulate. Leaves alternate, 
pinnate ; leaflets membranous. Spadix simple, on a long peduncle; 
Spathes 4, tubular, marcescent; bracts short; bracteoles minute, 
glumaceous. 
Endemic, monotypic. 
