Aneistrophylium. | CXLVII. PALME (WRIGHT). 117 
Lower Guinea. Lower French Congo: Mayombe, Laurent. Lower Congo, 
Smith. Angola: Golungo Alto ; Trombeta, Welwitsch, 6669 ! 66698 ! 
South Central. Congo Free State : Lunda, Buchner, 687 (ex Drude). 
10. BORASSUS, Linn.; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Pl. iii. 939. 
Male flowers small, densely packed in pits on the catkin-like branches 
of a simply branched interfoliaceous spadix, subtended by scaly bracts. 
Sepals 3, narrow, free, imbricate. Petals united below into a long 
stipes, glumaceous, obovate-spathulate, patent, imbricate. Stamens 6; 
filaments very short, subulate ; anthers large, oblong, basifixed. Ovary 
represented by 3 sete. Female flower much larger than the male, 
globose. Sepals reniform, imbricate, fleshy. Petals similar to the sepals, 
but smaller. Staminodes 6—9 inserted at the base of the petals. Ovary 
3-celled, entire or tripartite; stigmas sessile, recurved ; ovule basal, 
erect. Fruit large, subglobose, enclosing 3 pyrenes; pericarp thinly 
fleshy ; pyrenes obcordate, densely fibrous outside. Seed with its testa 
adhering to the endocarp; albumen homogeneous, horny, hollow ; 
embryo near the apex of the seed..—Tall, unarmed palm. Stem robust, 
annulate, thickened at or above the middle, sometimes branched at the 
apex. Leaves in a terminal crown, large, flabellate ; segments in- 
duplicate, bifid, margins smooth; ligule short, rigid ; petiole spiny ; 
sheath short. Spadices large; spathes at the base of the branches, 
incomplete; male branches densely covered with multiseriate densely 
imbricate bracts ; female branches thick, rather tortuose, fewer-flowered 
than the male. Flowers dicecious. Fruit brown. 
Species 1 in Tropical Africa, extensively cultivated in India, and probably wild in 
the regions around the mouth of the Indus. 
1. B. flabellifer, var. ethiopum, Warburg in Engl. Pfl. Ost-Ajr. 
B, 20, C. 130. Stem 60-70 ft. bigh, thicker above the middle, the 
younger part clothed with the persistent bases of old leaves. Leaves 
flabellate, broader than long, divided to the middle, 5-12 ft. long; seg- 
ments lanceolate-ensiform ; petiole straight, slightly sheathing at the 
base, concave above, convex below, spiny on the margins ; sheath break- 
ing up into filaments. Male inflorescence : Spadix 3-6 ft. long, simply 
branched ; peduncle slightly compressed; branches subterete, bearing 
at their apex 2-3 sessile cylindrical catkins 12 in. by 2 in.; spathes 
solitary at the base of and as long as each branch ; bracts imbricate, 
2 lin. long. Calyx tubular; lobes 3, oblong, obtuse, erect. Corvlla- 
tube as long as the calyx; lobes 3, oblong, obtuse, concave, patent, 
yellowish-green. Stamens 6, patent; filaments subulate. Female in- 
florescence: Spadix simple, 4-8 ft. long, nodding; spathes 6-12, 
arranged as in the male. Sepals reniform, imbricate, concave. Petals 
half as long as the sepals, gibbous, shining. Staminodes 6, rudimentary. 
Drupe ovoid, obtuse, obscurely trigonous, smooth, coriaceous, orange- 
coloured ; epicarp containing fibres. Seeds 3, ovoid, compressed.— 
Drude in Engl. Jahrb. xxi. 110; Dammer in Engl. Jahrb. xxvill. 855. 
B. flabelliformis, Murr. Syst. ed. 13, 827; Schumach. & Thonn. Beskr. 
