Sclerosperma. | CXLVII, PALM (WRIGHT). 101 
the linear hilum and form a loose network towards their extremities ; 
albumen copious, very hard, homogeneous ; embryo dorsal near the 
apex, almost opposite the hilum.—Slender, gregarious, unarmed palms. 
Stems very short, densely fastigiate. Leaves fascicled, erecto-patent, 
imparipinnate ; leaflets subopposite. Spadix short, simple, bearing at 
the base two male flowers at the side of each female, in the upper part 
male flowers only ; spathes 2, persistent; bracts membranous. 
Endemic, monotypic. 
1. 8S. Mannii, Wendl. in Trans. Linn. Soc. xxiv. 427, t. 38, fig. C, 
and t. 40, fig. A. Slender cespitose palms. Stem very short. Leaves 10- 
13 ft. long, rigid, sparingly clothed with rusty evanescent scurf ; sheath 
1-14 ft. long, breaking up at the margin into reticulate fibres ; petiole 
7-8 ft. long, subterete ; blade elliptic-oblong, 4—5 ft. by 2 ft.; rhachis 
acute above, convex beneath; leaflets 9-12 on each side, obliquely 
truncate, slightly contracted at the base, light green, smooth and 
shining above, whitish and covered with deciduous rusty scales beneath, 
crenate and minutely toothed at the apex, 14-2 ft. by 2-3 in., 3-5- 
nerved ; terminal leaflets unequal, confluent below, 12—17-nerved. 
Primary spadix about 8 in. long, the lateral erect, concealed amongst 
the leaf-bases ; peduncle 4 in. long, 9 lin. thick, brownish tomentose. 
Spathes 2, persistent, fuscous; outer 5-6 in. long, irregularly laciniate 
at the apex ; inner about 8 in. long, ellipsoid, breaking up at the apex 
into reticulate fibres. Flowers spirally arranged, in the lower part one 
female between two male, in the upper part male only densely crowded ; 
bracts broadly ovate, acute, concave; male bracteoles small or obsolete, 
female broadly ovate, acute. Male flower: Sepals oblong-lanceolate, 
concave, keeled, membranous, 14-2 lin. long, those of the apical flowers 
one-half the size, linear-spathulate, obtuse, incurved, membranous 
below. Corolla-lobes elliptic-oval, rigid, thick, 3-4 lin. long, those of 
the upper flowers broadly obovate, mucronate, incurved, 5 lin. long, 
reddish. Filaments very short, hemispherical; anthers linear; con- 
nective percurrent. Female flowers: Sepals free or shortly united, 
broadly ovate, acute, incrassate, concave, slightly keeled, margin with 
deciduous scales. Petals ovate, abruptly acuminate, concave, marces- 
cent, as long as or slightly longer than the sepals. Staminodes 6 or 9, 
minute, lanceolate. Ovary ellipsoid, shorter than the petals ; stigma 
large, suberect ; ovule basal. Drupe 1} in. diam., subglobose, obliquely 
depressed, bearing the stigmatic scar near the apex; epicarp brown, 
thin, rather shiny ; mesocarp of very thin fibres; endocarp thin, 
stony. Seed 1 in. by 9 lin.; hilum slightly excentric, with radiating 
anastomosing fibres; albumen copious, very hard; embryo near the 
apex.— Drude in Engl. Jahrb. xxi. 112. 
Lower Guinea. Gaboon: in swampy places near the River Gaboon, from 
Point Clara upwards, Mann, 1046! Soyaux (ex Drude). 
