Tan; 80956 | 50 \ 
LIN OSPADIX Mrougonirzit. 
New Guinea. 
Patma. Tribe ARECER. 
Linospapix, Beec.; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant. vol. iii. p. 903. 
Linospadix Micholitzii, Ridley in Gard. Chron. 1895, ii. p. 262; a speciebus 
reliquis spicis unisexualibus differt. 
Acaulescens. Folia dense conferta, longe obcuneata, 2-34 ped. longa, 7 poll. 
lata, ad tertiam partem bilobata, lobis acutis, nervis lateralibus circa 14 
prominentibus subtus brunneo-furfuraceis; petiolus plano-convexus. 
Spadices graciles, nutantes, unisexuales; pedunculi 14-2} ped. longi. 
Flores ¢: sepala vix 1 lin. longa, ovata, ciliata, carina minute denticu- 
lata; petala oblonga, acuta, valvata, 2 lin. longa; filamenta subulata, e 
basi incrassata; antherae dorsifixe. Flores 2? : sepala ovalia, obtusa, 
ciliata ; ovarium 1-loculare; ovula solitaria, pendula; stigmata tria, lata, 
recurvata. Fructus oblongus, ruber, 6 lin. longus; albumen album. 
The genus Linospadix now contains 8 species, 7 of which 
are natives of New Guinea, while the eighth, L. petrickiana, 
Hort. Sander (Gard Chron. 1898, vol. ti. p. 298) is only 
known im cultivation, To these are added in Engler 
and Prantl’s Pflanzenfamilien, vol. i. 3, p. 67, the two 
Australian species of Bacularia, which differ in having 
premorse leaf-segments and basifixed anthers. 
The present species is remarkable for having unisexual 
spadices, instead of the flowers in groups of three with the 
central one female and the lateral male, although sometimes 
a rudimentary female is at the side of the male. It 
was discovered by Mr. Micholitz in wet ravines on the 
higher slopes of the mountains in New Guinea. Seeds 
were sent to Messrs. Sander and Sons, of St. Albans, who 
raised plants, one of which they sent to Kew in 1896, 
where female flowers were produced in the Victoria House 
in November, 1905; the males not appearing until January, 
1906. 
Descr.—A stemless palm. Leaves densely congested, 
long obcuneate, two to three and a half feet long, seven 
inches across at the widest part, bilobed about a third of 
the way down ; lobes acute ; lateral nerves prominent, about 
fourteen on each side, brown furfuraceous beneath ; 
petiole plano-convex. Spadices slender, nodding, unisexual ; 
SEPTEMBER Ist, 1906. 
