XIV, 3 Beccari: The Palms of the Philippine Islands 831 
ORANIA Blume 
Representatives of Orania are rather common in the forests 
of the Philippines, especially in the more southern islands of the 
group, but their specific delimitation is often difficult and un- 
certain, as individuals apparently belonging to the same species 
seldom exhibit constant characters, when growing in separate 
islands, or even in remote localities in the same island. This is 
not confined to Orania, but is an almost general occurrence in 
other genera of Philippine palms. 
After a careful study of the specimens that offer the greatest 
divergence of characters, especially in the flowers and the fruits, I 
have concluded that there exist in the Philippines three primary 
species of Orania; namely, Orania philippinensis, O. rubiginosa, 
and O. decipiens (O. paraguanensis is perhaps only a derivation 
from O. philippinensis) ; but numerous variations are presented 
by these main types, especially in the size and shape of the 
fruits and in the thickness of their mesocarps, so as to render 
not inconsistent the opinion that in the Philippines we have 
only one “synspecies” of Orania, represented by several “micro- 
species” the latter however derived, we may suppose, by the in- 
terbreeding of two foreign elements. Orania philippinensis is 
apparently derived from the Papuan O. regalis, of which varieties 
or allied species exist also in the Moluccas; whereas the more 
typical form of O. decipiens is plainly allied to the Malayan O. 
macrocladus. : 
Conspectus of the species. 
a’. Floriferous branches ultimately glabrous. 
b’. Male flowers angular, lanceolate, 6 to 8 mm long, 3 to 3.5 mm broad, 
or about twice as long as broad, having the stamens one-third to 
one-half shorter than the petals; anthers linear-oblong. Female 
flowers broadly ovate-trigonous, the calyx cupular, very low; petals 
triangular, subaequilateral. Fruit spherical or very slightly nar- 
rowed at the base, usually 5.5 to 6 cm in diameter, at times somewhat 
less; mesocarp about 5 mm thick : 1. O. philippinensis. 
ce’, Fruit exactly spherical, larger than in the species (6.5 cm in 
diameter), yet with a thinner mesocarp (3.5 to 4 mm thick). 
O. philippinensis var. sibuyanensis. 
b*. Male flowers narrow, linear, 8 mm long, 2 mm broad, or about four 
times as long as broad, having the stamens nearly as long as the 
petals and the anthers very narrowly linear. Fruit spherical, 
smaller than in O. philippinensis, 4.5 to 4.7 cm in diameter, the meso- 
carp 3.5 to 4 mm thick 2. O. paraguanensis. 
b*. Male flowers narrowly linear. Fruit slightly narrowing to the base, 
or slightly pyriform, considerably smaller than in the preceding 
species, 4 to 4.5 cm long, 85 to 87 mm thick; kernel spherical, 
extended at the base into a broadly obconical blunt point; mesocarp 
