Aug. 25, 1919] 



Palms of the Philippine Islands 



3011 



Field-note: — A very slender tree; trunk 40 feet high 

 or higher, about 7 inches thick toward the base, ringed 

 toward the top every 2 to 3 inches; bark smooth and 

 hard, conspicuously grayish white; wood seasoned and 

 very hard on the exterior, its fibers rigid and black; 

 leaves without a prominent sheath bole but the base of 

 the 2 feet long petiole much broadened and clasping 

 the stem at the base, the leaflet bearing portion about 

 1 yard long; segments descending, duller green beneath, 

 tough; infrutescences several from the lower leaf axils, 

 1 yard long at most, the peduncle 1.5 inch wide by 

 0.5 inch thick, hanging, abruptly divided into a numer- 

 ously branched equally long panicle, its main branches 

 again paniculately rebranched, smooth and green as are 

 also the ultimate branchlets which are rather lax; calyx 

 cup finally brown; fruits green, yellowish, ultimately red. 



Negros: Dumaguete (Cuernos Mts.), Province of Ne- 

 gros Oriental, March 1908, number 9559. Discovered on 

 steep damp ravines of jungled woods at 3000 feet al- 

 titude. The leaf buds are edible. "Belisan" in Visayan. 



Ptychoraphis intermedia Becc. sp. nov. 



A Slender erect tree. Stem about 12 cm. thick, 

 terete, nearly 12 m. high, smooth and dull gray, ob- 

 scurely ringed toward the leaf crown. Leaves about 3 

 m. long; leaflets very numerous, equidistant, very tough, 

 green on both sides, only slightly paler beneath, largest 

 ones of the upper portion 55 cm. long and 2.5 cm. wide, 

 ensiform, quite straight, very long, acuminately narrow- 

 ed to the apex which has a tendency to split in 

 the middle and appearing plicately striate; the middle costa 

 very sharp and prominent, especially on the upper sur- 

 face, the margins slightly thickened; the secondary ner- 

 ves rather sharp, 2 on the nether side (1 on each side 

 of the middle costa), more conspicuous than the others 

 and like the midvein provided with rather numerous 

 brown chaffy scales; the tertiary nerves are quite sharp; 

 transverse veinlets indistinct. Fruiting spadix recurved 

 and pendant, arising from the lower leaf axils; its pan- 

 icle twice spreadingly branched, about 60 cm. long, 

 subtended by a 30 cm. long flattened 2.5 cm. wide and 

 fuliginous scurfy peduncular portion; its primary bran- 

 ches are short, divided into 2 to 3 flower bearing bran- 

 chlets; the latter are rigid, thickish, subterete but wrinkled 

 in the dry condition, 5 mm. in diameter throughout, 35 

 to 40 cm. in length without the flowers, all uniformly 



