120 CXLVII. PALM (WRIGHT). | Zyphene. 
cylindrical, oblique, acute; bracteoles widely cochleariform, truncate, 
bearded at the sides. Calyx 3-partite, pilose outside the base; lobes | 
ovate, fleshy, 2 lin. long. Corolla 3-partite; lobes long, oval, mem- 
branous, 14 lin. long. Staminodes none. Ovary conical; stigmas 3, 
sessile. Fruit pedicellate, long pyriform, obtusely keeled, 5 lin. long, 
oblique at the base. Seed with bony albumen; embryo cylindrical, 
near the apex of the seed. 
Mozamb. Dist. German East Africa: Khutu; in the Kisaki Steppe, by the 
Rufiji River, 820 ft., Goetze, 69. 
Native name, Mkase. 
3. H. thebaica, Wart. Palm. iii. 225, tt. 1381-133. Stem terete, 
10-30 ft. high, about 1 ft. in diam., simple or more frequently dichoto- 
mously branched. Leaves 20-30 in a terminal crown on each branch ; 
petiole sheathing at the base, triangular below, plano-convex upwards, 
spiny on the margins, with rusty tomentum ; lamina suborbicular ; lobes 
20 or more, linear-lanceolate, acuminate, 14 ft. long, lin. wide; primary 
nerves thick, concave above, secondary numerous. Male spadix 4 ft. 
long, 1-2 in. thick at the base, at first erect, afterwards patent ; spathes 
nearly cylindrical; flower-bearing branches 6-10 in. long, 3—2 at the 
end of branches 3-4 in. long; bracteoles } lin. long; flowers in pairs, 
shortly pedicellate. Calyx 3-lobed, contracted below. Corolla stipitate; 
lobes widely ovate, obtuse, concave. Stamens 6, rarely 7; filaments 
subulate from a thickened base; anthers linear, slightly sagittate, 
nearly basifixed. Rudiment of ovary absent. Female spadix like the 
male; bracteoles densely imbricate, with a transverse line of tomentum 
half-way up the back ; flowers very shortly pedicellate. Calyx-lobes 
orbicular-ovate, light green. Petals smaller than the sepals, orbicular- 
ovate, concave. Staminodes 6. Ovary globose or 3-lobed; stigmas 
sessile or nearly so. Fruit of 1 (rarely 2-3) obliquely-ovoid carpel, 3 in. 
long, 2}in. indiam. Seed ovoid.—Mart. in Miinch. gel. Anzeig. 1838, 
639, and 1839, 51; Grant in Trans. Linn. Soc. xxix. 187; Speke, Nile, 
Append. 651; Penzigin Atti Congr. Bot. Genova, 1892, 363 ; Schweinf. 
Beitr. Fl. Aethiop. 193, 291, and in Bull. Herb. Boiss. ii. App. ii. 52. 
Cucifera thebaica, Del. Fl. Egypte, 1, tt. 1-2. 
Upper Guinea. Gambia: on the banks of the River Gambia, Whitfield? 
Bornu, ex Drude. 
Wile Land. Nubia: near Alt Dongola, Ehrenberg (ex Schweinfurth). Eritrea = 
Arkiko and Monkullo, near Massowa, and in the valley of the River Barca, ex Penzig- 
Kordofan, Sennar, Abyssinia and Bahr-el-Abiad (White Nile), ex Schweinfurth ; 
White Nile, Flower! Speke § Grant. Somaliland : Schebeli, Donaldson Smith, 1! 
British East Africa: Lamo (Lamu Island), Kirk, 1! 
Also found in extra-tropical Egypt and Arabia. ; 
Native names: at Berber “Mohamma,” at Tigre “Ssehhelib.” “At Berber the 
leaves are made into course rope, and the trunks into beams and posts ” (Speke 5 
Grant). Although this species is frequently mentioned by travellers as the Doum oF 
Dum palm, it is very poorly represented in British herbaria. 
4. Hi. guineensis, Schwmach. & Thonn. Beskr. Guin. Pl. 445. 
Stem tall, cylindrical, the younger part armed with the bases of old 
