Tap. 6836. 
DIDYMOSPERMA wNanom. 
Native of Assam. 
Nat. Ord. PatmMex.—Tribe ARECINER. 
Genus Dipymosrerms, Wend/. and Drude; (Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Pl. 
vol. iii, p. 917.) 
DipyMosPERMA nanum; palma 1-3-pedalis, erecta, caudice a basi folioso, foliis 
suberectis petiolatis pinnatis, pinnis 2-3 jugis suboppositis sessilibus cuneato- 
obovatis v. oblongis inequaliter lobatis spinuloso-eroso-dentatis, basi cuneata 
integerrima, terminali latiore sepe 2-fida, supra glabris flabellatim striato- 
nervosis, subtus glaucescentibus glabris v. costa tenuiter furfuracea, petiolo 
elongato gracili, vagina elongata rete tenui ferrugineo-furfuracea, spadicibus 
illaribus simplicibus furcatisve erectis, pedunculo brevi spathis subdistichis 
imbricatis oblongis obtusis furfuraceis tecto, floribus dense spicatis albis, ¢ 
oblongis sepalis orbiculatis membranaceis, petalis oblongis obtusis concavis 
valvatis, staminibus ad 14, filamentis brevibus, fl. 2 subglobosis, sepalis late 
ovatis, petalis triangulari-ovatis crasse coriaceis valvatis, stigmatibus minutis 
sessilibus, fructu oblique oblongos obtusos 1-spermos, embryone dorsali. 
D. nanum, Wendl. and Drude, in Kerchov. de Denterg., Les Palmiers, p. 243. 
Watticuta (Orania) nana, Griff. in Cale, Journ. Nat. Hist. vol. v. p. 488; Mart. 
Hist. Nat. Palm. p. 190, t. 315. 
Harina nana, Griff. Palm. Brit. Ind. p. 176, t. 238, A, B. 
With the exception of some Madagascar species of Dypsis, 
and South American Chamedoreas, and perhaps Geonomas, 
this is the dwarfest Palm I can recall to mind, rarely ex- 
ceeding two feet in height. It is, however, for its size far 
more robust than the plants mentioned above, and having 
none of the grace of the order to which it belongs, it is 
unsuited for decorative purposes. Didymosperma, as a 
genus, consists of six or seven species, all from transgan- 
getic India and the Malay Islands. They are separated 
from Wallichia by their short three-cleft calyx and numerous 
stamens. One species, D. distichum, differs from almost all 
other Palms in having distichous leaves terminating a tall 
caudex like that of Ravenalia; the rest are, as far as is 
known, chiefly dwarf. There is aspecies very like D. nanum, 
apparently undescribed, found at Perak in the Malayan 
Peninsula, differing in the quite glabrous sheaths and 
petioles, which are more slender; the leaflets suddenly 
SEPT. Ist, 1885. 
