Tab. 5735. 



AEECA Baueri. 



Norfolk Island Betel Palm. 



Nat. Ord. Palmes.— Mon(ecia Hexandeia. 



Gen. Char. Flores monoici, sessiles in eodem spadice, spatha duplici 

 cincti ; masculi superiores, plerumque foemineis 2 stipati. — Masc. Peri- 

 anthium 6-partitum, 2-seriale. Stamina 3-12. — Fcem. Perianthii foliola 6, 

 imbricata, 3 exteriora minora, 3 interiora convoluta. Ovarium 1-3-loculare ; 

 stylus brevissimus, stigmate minuto 3-dentato. Drupa monosperma, fibrosa ; 

 albumen ruminatum v. lsevc ; embryo basilaris. — Palmar erectce, Asia, 

 Australia subtropical, et Ins. Pacif. incolce. Caudex elatus, gracilis v. 

 robustus, annulatus. Folia pinnata, basi vaginantia, decidua. Flores in 

 spadices simplices v. ramosas axillares dispositi. 



Areca Baueri; caudice robusto, foliis pinnatis, pinnis multijugis anguste 

 lineari-lanceolatis acuminata, costis petiolisque sparse lepidotis, spadice 

 ramoso. ramis erassis albis, floribus albis v. pallide carneis, perianthii 

 foliolis exterioribus in masc. subulatis in fcem. ovatis, interioribus 

 mase. et fcem. ovatis acutis, bacca globoso-ovoidea rubra nitida, albu- 

 mine jequabili. 



Areca Baueri. Ilook.f. in Fl. Nov. Zel. v. I. p. 262, in obs. 



A. sapida. Fndl. in Prod. Fl. Ins. Norfolk, p. 26 (non Forst.). 



This beautiful Palm is closely allied to the A. sapida, 

 Forst., of New Zealand (Tab. nostr. 5139), and, indeed, it 

 long passed for that plant, from which it is chiefly distin- 

 guished by its greater size, larger and broader pinna?, the 

 broader outer segments of the female perianth, and especially 

 the white flowers and more globose and scarlet berries. It 

 was introduced into Kew many years ago from Norfolk 

 Island by the late Allan Cunningham, and now has attained 

 a trunk eight feet high. It flowers annually in the Palm- 

 house during autumn and winter, and ripens its fruit about 

 midsummer. It also grows in the temperate-house, but not 

 nearly so freely or well. 



Descr. Caudex twenty feet high in its native state, and 

 four to ten inches in diameter, terete, green, smooth, closely 

 ringed with scars. Leaves six to nine feet long, pinnate, rachis 



OCTOBER 1st, 1868. 



