thence spread through the South Sea Islands, whence, no 
doubt, many new species are to be obtained. 
P. grandis flowered for the first time in Mr. Wills’s 
establishment at Anerley in February, 1881, but did not 
_ ripen seeds. 
Desor. Whole plant six feet high to the base of the top- 
most petiole. Trunk, three feet and a half to the base of the 
leaves, ten inches in circumference, leaf-bearing for nearly 
half of its length, clothed shortly below the leaves with the 
sheaths of the old leaves, which are semi-amplexicaul and 
about three inches long. Leaves about twenty in the 
crown, erect and slightly spreading, deep bright green; 
petiole two and a half to three feet long, slender, concavo- 
convex, armed with short stiff nearly straight or curved 
sometimes irregularly forked spines along the margins 
from the base to the middle, ending in a short ovate acute 
concave thickly coriaceous ligule; blade suberect, three 
feet in diameter, and about two long, orbicular or semi- 
orbicular, concave from the incurving of the sides and 
more or less of the whole blade, closely plaited and a little 
wavy, base cuneate or truncate, margins cleft into bifid 
lobes about an inch long, lobules of the lobes very obtuse. 
Spadizes several, rising from amongst the leaves and nearly 
as long as they are, suberect ; rachis as thick as the little 
finger, cylindric, terete, quite smooth, giving off at 
intervals of a foot or less flowering panicles five to six 
inches long. Spathes at the bases of the panicles two or 
more, two to three inches long, lanceolate, acute, concave, 
brown, striated. Flowers one-third of an inch long, jointed 
on to very short pedicels or sessile on the branches of the 
panicle. Calye tubular-campanulate, terete; mouth trun- 
cate, slightly lobed. Petals as long as the calyx, ovate, 
acute, concave, very thick, with broad margins and an 
inflexed tip. Stamens very small, inserted between the 
triangular teeth of a six-lobed coriaceous cup; filaments 
subulate, as long as the teeth of the cup; anthers oblong.’ 
Ovary of three slightly cohering wedge-shaped carpels, 
united by a very short entire style; stigma simple.—J. D. H., 
: rind 1, Top of petiole and base of leaf blade; 2, branch of panicle and flower ; 
» Hower spread open ; 4, calyx cut open and petals in bud; 5, petal; 6, staminal 
fa a pesmi 7, ovary ; 8, the same with the carpels disunited :—all but fig.1 
