Tass. 4913, 4914. 
PHYTELEPHAS macrocarpa. 
Large-fruited Ivory-Plant, 
Nat. Ord. PHyTELEPHANTHEX.—Di@cIaA POLYANDRIA. 
Gen. Char. emend. Flores polygami-dioici, masculi et foeminei, cum staminibus, 
quorum anthere steriles, indistinctis spadicibus, spathis inclusis. MascuLi:— 
Spadix specie simplex, cylindricus, pedunculo squamis nonnullis instructo, rachi 
floribus densissime obtecto. Flores in prominentiis racheos brevibus (ramis de- 
curtatis ?) arcte-glomerati, bractea et calyce minimis seepe delitescentibus. Bractea 
ovata, concava. Sepala tria: duo literalia majora, bractee similia, tertium pos- 
ticum illis tectum. Stamina numerosa (36), e thoro. Filamenta filiformia. An- 
there lineares, erectee, fere basifixee, biloculares, connectivo mucronulatee. Pollen 
ellipticum, longitudinaliter sulcatum. Fam1net :—Spadi« simplex, squamis con- 
pluribus spiratim dispositis obsessus, vertice flores nonnullos gerens, inter squamas 
absconditos, qui constant pistillo et staminibus numerosis illud cingentibus, an- 
theris sterilibus. Ovarium subglobosum, loculis 6-9. Stylus terminalis, erectus, 
apice tripartitus, cruribus subulatis, unico simplici rariusve bifido, binis bifidis, 
divisionibus intus stigmatosis. Ovuda solitaria, sessilia, erecta, integumento 
duplici. Drupe (6-7) in capitulum maximum ponderosum aggregate, depresso- 
globose, deorsum cuneato-augulate, subpentagone, muricato-tuberculate et 
mature crasso-corticate, tuberculis sursum majoribus, longitudinaliter fibrosis 
et ex parte supra verticem fructus convergentibus, 6-9-loculares. Semna in 
loculis solitaria, e fructus angulis centralibus oblique adscendentia, hilo magno 
convexo cicatricoso, oblongo-obovata, introrsum bifacialia. Testa crassa, ossea, 
levigata; membrana interna vasis ramosis percursa. A/dumen osseum, solidum. 
Embryo periphericus, juxta hilum subbasilaris. Germinatio per chordam elongatam 
remotiva.—Planta palmeformis ; candice mediocri, crasso, erecto vel decumbente. 
Folia omnia terminalia, magna, pinnatisecta, segmentis reduplicatis, multinervis et 
venis transversis conspicuis ; floribus odoratissimis. Seem. Bot. Herald, p. 205. 
PHYTELEPHAS macrocarpa. Ruiz et Pavon, Syst. Veg. Fl. Peruo. et Chil. p. 301. 
Humb. et Kunth, Nov. Gen. v.1. p. 83. Kunth, Enum. v. 3. p. 109. Mart. 
Palm. 0.3. p. 306. Hook. Journ. of Bot. and Kew Misc. v. 1. p. 204. Seem. 
Bot. Herald, pp. 208, t. 45, 46, 47. Hjusd. Bonpl. vol. 3. p. 270. ¢. 1 et 2. 
ELEPHANTUSIA macrocarpa. Willd. Spec. v. 4. p. 1156. 
Those who deplore that the great geological convulsions de- 
prived the New World of its ivory-bearing animals, and only 
suffered their remains to be preserved in the deposits ascribed to 
the drift period of our times, may derive some consolation from 
the fact that there still exists in the virgin forests of tropical 
MAY Ist, 1856. 
