608 



.BEOCAHI. 



conspicuous, with a broadly conical ovoid base, suddenly narrowing into 

 a filiform style, which attains the length of the longest anthers and is 

 not thickened at its top. Female {lowers opening after the fall of the male 

 ones, globose-conical, acute, about G mm long, when the males are full 

 grown; sepals strongly imbricate, concave, suborbicular ; petals very 

 broad, imbricate in their basal part, suddenly contracted into a very short, 

 triangular, valvate point. Ovary 1-celled, 1-ovulatc, ovoid, with a tri- 

 gonous acute apex, this being formed by 3 trigonous connivent stigmas 

 (wbile still enclosed in the bud) ; ovule suspended laterally in the small 

 basilar cell; staminodes 6, very small and short, with rudimentary 

 anthers, and forming by their united bases a small (i-toothed hypogynous 

 cup. Fruiting perianth accrescent, cupular, 10 mm high, Id mm across 

 at the mouth, covering the lower third of the fruit; the petals consid- 

 erably larger and longer than the sepals, with more or less crenulate 

 margins. Fruit (when quite ripe) bright-red, 3 em long, 18 mm broad, 

 elliptic-ovoid or slightly ovoid, suddenly contracted into a short stoui 

 beak, upon which rest the remains of the black, short, trigonous, connivent 

 stigmas; pericarp slightly fleshy, on the whole about 1 mm thick when 

 dry; epicarp very thinly crustaceous, very minutely shagreencd when 

 seen under a strong lens; mesocarp with a few layers of rigid, slightly 

 anastomosing, slender, unequal fibres, of which some in the outer layer 

 are flattened and 0.5 to 1 mm broad; endocarp thin, crustaceous or 

 subpergamentaceous, polished inside, usually more or less adherent to 

 the testa of the seed. Seed erect, ovoid, terete, rounded at both ends, 

 16 to 17 mm long, 13 mm broad, free in the cavity of the endocarp. to 

 which however the greater part of its pellicular testa is adherent, its 

 surface dull; hilum narrow, extending from the base to the top of the 

 seed; the branches of the raphe are numerous, very distinct and impressed, 

 chiefly descending from the top, much branched and forming a close 

 network all around the entire seed. Albumen bony, usually with a 

 small cavity in the center, deeply and closely ruminated, embryo exactly 

 basilar. 



Commonly cultivated as an ornamental tree in Manila and locally known as 

 "Bunga de Jolo" and "Bunga de China" (The -Join or Chinese Areca). The 

 original home of the species is doubtful, and it may not be a native of the 

 Philippines. Mr. Merrill, who has supplied me with specimens, informs me that 

 old residents of Manila state that it was introduced from Jolo, one of the islands 

 of the Sulu Archipelago; however, it has not been collected in a wild state 

 anywhere in the Philippines. Mr. Merrill surmises that this may be the "Areca 

 palm bearing large clusters of scarlet fruit" mentioned by Burbidge 1 as occurring 

 on the "Hill of Tears," Island of Jolo, above an altitude of 1,500 m. 



The nuts of Normanbya Merrillii are a good substitute for those of Areca 

 catechu, and are somewhat used by the natives for chewing with lime and the 

 leaves of Piper betle. 



The nearest ally of this palm, amongst those known to me, appears to he 



'The Gardens of the Sun (1880) 213. 



