7 
ALBUMEN semini conforme, cartilagineo-corneum, in facie dorsali paulld infra medium lectulo insculptum cylindrico, profundo, obtuso, 
axin seminis ferð attingente atque laminulå tenerå, ex albuminis substantia factâ tecto, cui embryo incumbit liber, albus, trochleari- 
conicus, extremitate radicali planiusculå, parüm latiore peripheriam spectante, extremitate cotyledoneâ, interna, centripetâ, obtusà.— De 
Martii MSS. 
For the preceding minute and masterly description, as well as for the exquisite drawing from which the engraving 
has been executed, I am gratefully indebted to my inestimable friend Professor Von Martius, the illustrious botanist 
and traveller, author of several most valuable and superb works, chiefly one on Palms, which indeed bears the 
palm of all that have ever been published on any branch of Natural History. The principal figure in the plate 
has been improved from a drawing, by a native artist, of a young tree which blossomed in the Calcutta Botanic 
Garden in 1817 ; and this will account for the inflorescence being represented as issuing below the crown ; whereas 
in the full-grown state of the tree it is produced partly among and partly below the leaves. 
To my knowledge the Palm is found nowhere except at Bunipa in the great valley of Nipal, where, however, it is 
produced in considerable abundance. It is a most elegant tall and slender tree, with a globular head of fan-shaped 
shining leaves. In total height it measures from 40 to 50 feet, of which the crown forms about one-sixth. I am not 
aware that any part of it is made use of, except the yellow olive-shaped berries, which are eaten by the natives, 
though their pulp is very scanty and almost tasteless. 
I long ago suspected that this Palm might perhaps prove the same as Thunberg's Chamerops eæcelsa (Flora 
Japonica, p. 130.), and under that name I actually sent plants and seeds of it to England, where it now exists in 
several hothouses: but I now believe that they are distinct; at any rate our knowledge of Thunberg's Palm is far 
too deficient to decide the point. I may add that I have seen plants of the Japan Palm in the noble establishment 
belonging to the worthy and liberal Messrs. Loddiges at Hackney, which on comparison with the Chamærops Martiana, 
also growing there, seem quite different. 
Plate CCXI. Fig. 1. A leaf. 2. Section of the petiol, showing the scales on the inside. 3. A scale detached from the petiol. 
4. Top part of the trunk, showing the position of the sheathing bases of the petiols. ` 5. Apex of a flower-branch (natural size). 
6. Bract, together with the two pedunculary bractlets on the rachis. 7. Flower before expansion. 8. Expanded flower. 
9. The same, seen from below. 10. Calyx. 11. Corolla. 12. Parts of fructification in an expanded flower, exhibiting the 
relative position of the pistils. 13. Stamen, viewed from two sides. 14. Pollen. 15. Projection of the flower, with the bracts, 
bractlets, and organs of fructification. 16. Flower after fecundation. 17. Three pistils. 18. Two pistils, exhibiting their 
inner sides, the third being removed. 19. Hairs taken from the upper part of the ovary. 20. Vertical section of the ovary, 
showing the ovule and its short cylindric funiculus. 21. Detached ovule and its funiculus, exhibiting the point of fecundation 
noticed by Mr. Robert Brown (micropyle of M. Turpin). 22. Horizontal section of the three ovaries, one only containing an ovule. 
23. Apex of a fruit-bearing branch (natural size). 24. Berry separated from its calyx (natural size). 25. Irregular scales separated 
from the surface of the berry. 26. Horizontal section of the berry through its embryoniferous cavity, showing the two-lobed albumen. 
27, Seed, viewed from the side of the raphe. 28. A berry, having part of the pulp and testa removed from its back to show the posi- 
tion of the embryo. 
PRANGOS PABULARIA. Tab. 212. 
Prangos pabularia Lindl. in Quarterly Journal of Science, vol. xix. p. 7. DeCand. Prodr. vol. iv. p. 239. 
Laserpitium Wall. in Act. Soc. Agric. Calcutt. vol. i. p. 94. 
The subject of the accompanying plate is of such importance in an agricultural point of view, that I trust I shall 
be readily excused for making copious extracts concerning it from two valuable works. It will be seen that all our 
practical knowledge of the Prangos is derived from observations made on the spot where the plant grows, by the late 
Mr. William Moorcroft, a gentleman of the highest scientific and professional acquirements, who was endowed with 
an extraordinary degree of enterprise and zeal as a traveller, and whose loss will long be lamented by all who knew 
and appreciated his sterling worth and talents. Unfortunately, the consignment of seeds which he had forwarded to 
Calcutta did not vegetate ; and notwithstanding the prompt and liberal assistance afforded by the Bengal Government 
for the attainment of so desirable an object, all endeavours to procure a second supply have hitherto been ineffectual. 
Å large quantity of seeds was indeed sent to me some years ago under the name of Prangos, but they proved to be 
Lucerne only ; I took care, however, to distribute portions of them through many parts of India as well as Europe. 
