XIV, 3 Beccari: The Palms of the Philippine Islands 805 
PALAWAN, near Lake Manguao, in a narrow valley along a small stream 
in the primeval forest, Merrill 9447, April, 1913. 
This differs from the common form in having smaller fruits 
with the seed globular-depressed and in its more acuminate fe- 
male flowers. 
As to the possibility of this being a really wild form of 
Areca Catechu, Mr. Merrill writes to me from Manila under 
date of October 2, 1914, as follows: 
As to Areca Catechu the specimen that I collected in Palawan is the 
only one that I have seen growing in primeval forests in all my travels in 
the Philippines. At the place where found the plants, few in number, were 
growing in a forested ravine along a small stream at a place where an 
old and apparently much traveled native trail crossed the stream. 
I strongly suspect that the trees that I found in this place originated 
from seeds accidentally left there by natives. The species is of course 
very common and very widely distributed in the Philippines, but normally 
is found only in the settled areas and in cultivation. It is, however, dis- 
tinctly self seeded and one frequently finds young plants in thickets, fence 
rows, etc., that have not been purposely planted, but which have originated 
from seeds fallen from neighboring trees. 
ARECA CATECHU Linn. var. LONGICARPA Bece. in Philip. Journ. Sci. 6 
(1911) Bot. 229. | 
POLILLO, Bur. Sci. 10470 McGregor, October-November, 1909. It is not 
known whether or not the specimens were collected from cultivated or 
wild plants. 
This is a very remarkable variety on account of its elongate- 
ellipsoid fruit, almost equally tapering at both ends, and with a 
conical apex, varying from 5.5 to 7 cm in length (including the 
perianth) and from 2.5 to 3 cm in diameter, or more than twice 
as long as broad. The pericarp is 3 to 4 mm thick at the sides, 
and is solid in most of its lower half, the seed being inserted 
very high, or only a little less than half the entire length of the 
pericarp. The mesocarp is not so filled with fibers as in the other 
forms of Areca Catechu, and in its central and basal part the 
fibers extend through a very soft and spongy tissue. The seed 
is 24 mm long (in one specimen), has a nearly or quite flat 
(22 mm broad) base, and suddenly assumes a conical shape, 
yet it is blunt at the apex; the vascular branches of the integ- 
ument start from the raphe at an angle of about 45° and form 
a close network as in the typical form. The male flowers are 
6 mm long and 1.5 mm broad, or somewhat longer, narrower, 
and more acuminate than in forma communis. The fruits are 
said to be yellow. 
It seems to represent rather a subspecies of Areca Catechu 
than a simple variety of that plant. 
