Tab. 6358. 

 LOXOCOCCUS rtjpicola. 



Native of Ceylon. 



Nat. Ord. Palmes. — Tribe Arecine.b. 

 Genus Loxococcus, ( Wendl. et Drude in Linncea, vol. xxxix. p. 185.) 



Loxococcus rupioolaj Wendl. and Drude, l.c. 

 Ptychosperma rupicola, Thwaites Enum. PI. Zeyl. p. 328. 

 Cabyota mitis, Willd. ? Moon. Cat. PI. Ceylon, p. 65. 



This elegant palm is a native of rocky places in forests of 

 the southern and central parts of Ceylon, from whence seeds 

 were sent to Kew by oui excellent friend Dr. Thwaites, 

 F.K.S., Director of the beautiful Botanical Gardens of the 

 Island. Dr. Thwaites describes it as attaining the height of 

 thirty to forty feet, and adds that the seeds are chewed by 

 the Cinghale'se with their betel as a substitute for those of 

 Areca Catechu. It flowered for the first time in the Victoria 

 House at Kew in February of this year, and from its graceful 

 habit and its coral-like inflorescence, it was a most attractive 

 object. 



Whilst adopting for the present the genus Loxococcus, I am 

 far from thinking that it will stand the test of a revision of 

 the tribe Arecince under a very different view of the value of 

 generic characters from that adopted by its authors, which 

 tends to raise so many closely allied species to mdividually 

 generic rank. As, however, such generic names will tor a 

 time be current amongst cultivators, and I have not the time 

 to revise them, with a view to forming a definite opinion ot 

 their relative value, I think it best, in this instance, to adopt 

 Loxococcus. . . , 



Descr. Trunk, in our specimen, about eight feet nign, 

 conical, and swollen at the base, where it ia four inches in 



may 1st, 1878. 



