124 CXLVII. PALMA (WRIGHT). | Medemia. 
Seed much longer than broad . 4 . : . 1. M. Argun. 
Seeds nearly as broad as long . : < ‘ . 2. M. abiadensis. 
1. M. Argun, P. G. von Wiirttemberg ex Mart. Palm. iti. 227.. 
Fruit ellipsoid, dull brown, 22 lin. long, 17 lin. in diam., bitter, not 
edible. Seed ellipsoid, 17 lin. long, 12-14 lin. in diam.—Wendl. in 
Bot. Zeit. 1881, 93; Drude in Engl. Jahrb. xxi. 111. Hyphene Argun, 
Mart. Palm. iii. 227; Schweinf. Beitr. Fl. Aethiop. 291. 
Wile Land. Nubia and Kordofan, between 20° and 21° N., Kotschy, and 
Prince Paul Wilhelm of Wiirttemberg (ex Martius), Schweinfurth! Wady Delah, 
near Murat in the Great Nubian Desert, between Korosko and Aboo Hammed,. 
Tossiau ! 
Steps have beeu taken by the Government to preserve the grove at Wady Delab,. 
which was in danger of extermination by the inhabitants, who use the leaves for 
making matting. 
2. M. abiadensis, Wendl. in Bot. Zeit. 1881, 93. Fruit ellipsoid, 
bright brown, 18-19 lin. long, 14-15 lin. in diam. Seeds 12-13 lin.. 
long, 10-11 lin. in diam.—Drude in Engl. Jahrb. xxi. 111. 
Wile Land. On the White Nile, Armand. 
13. BLAIS, Jacq. ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. PI. iii. 944. 
Male flowers : Sepals linear or lanceolate, concave, imbricate. Petals. 
smaller and thinner than the sepals, valvate. Stamens 6; filaments 
connate into a thick fleshy cylindrical tube below, free and reflexo- 
patent at theapex ; anthers linear-oblong, bilobed at the base, exserted,. 
basifixed. Rudiment of ovary minute. Female flowers much larger 
than the male, ovoid. Sepals ovate, imbricate at the base. Petals a 
little longer than the sepals, erect, convolute-imbricate, entire or split 
at the apex. Disk annular. Ovary ovoid or subcylindrical, 3-celled, 
or by abortion 1-2-celled ; style thick, pyramidal ; stigmas large, linear, 
revolute ; ovule filling up the cell, micropyle subapical. Fruit ovoid or 
obovoid, 1—3-seeded, intruded at the base, umbilicate at the apex; stigmas: 
terminal ; pericarp spongy and oily, fibrous inside; endocarp thick, long, 
with 3 pores above the middle. Seed adnate just below the centre © 
the cell; testa thin; raphe reticulately branched ; albumen cartilagi- 
nous, homogeneous, hollow; embryo opposite a pore of the endocarp.— 
Slender or tall, unarmed palms. Stem unbranched, erect or decumbent,. 
annulate, clothed with old petiole-bases. Leaves many in a terminal 
crown, large, pinnate ; petiole short, thick, spiny on the margins or un- 
armed, with a short open sheathing base ; leaflets ensiform, acuminate, 
recurved at the base. Spadices interfoliaceous, short, thick ; peduncle 
loosely clothed with acute bracts ; branches dense, male terminating 1D 4 
spine, female more robust ; spathes 2, complete, at length breaking up 
into fibres ; male bracts very densely imbricate, connate into cupules ;. 
male bracteoles scale-like ; female bracts large, lanceolate, spinescent,. 
overtopping the flowers ; female bracteoles like the sepals. 
Species 1 in Tropical Africa, 2-3 in Eastern Tropical South America. 
