3016 



Leaflets of Philippine Botany 



r ol. viii, Art. 120 



nearly 2 feet long, ovate in outline; fruits green, bright 

 red when mature, ovoid, less than 0.5 inch in diameter. 

 Discovered in red compact soil of woods along the trail 

 to Espafia at 750 feet altitude. "Billis" is its Visayan 

 name. 



It is the representative of Heterospathe elata Schef. on 

 the island of Sibuyan. It differs from that species in 

 the leaflets which are furnished with conspicuous pa- 

 leolae on the nether side; in the fruit being ovoid and 

 with an obliquely conical upper portion; and in the seed 

 being slightly longer than broad, not spherical. 



ONCOSPERMA BIm. 



Oncosperma filament osa Blm. in Rumphia n, 97, t. 

 82 et 103, 1836. 



Field-note:— Strict and slender trees; stem round, 6 

 inches thick, the basal 10 to 15 feet heavily beset with 

 spines, nearly as tall as coconut trees; wood hard and 

 brittle, black, the middle portion pithy, odorless and 

 tasteless; bark dull brown, gray toward the top, yellowish 

 when young, smoothish, the rings every 8 inches apart 

 from the middle to the top or toward the sheath, conspic- 

 uously roughened and closely set; spines 3 inches long, 

 black, flattened and thickened at their bases, descending; 

 crown of leaves spreading, the fronds 9 feet long, hor- 

 izontally scattered, finally recurved, leaflet bearing from 

 the base; sheaths 3 feet long, 9 inches thick or two 

 times as thick as the stem, yellowish green and provided 

 with black spines; ligule 2 inches long, leather brown 

 and smooth; rachis flattened below the middle, 2 inches 

 wide at the base, green above, scurfy brown and spi- 

 nescent toward the base; leaflets pendant, tough, shining 

 dark green on the upper side, slightly paler beneath, 

 the sides usually folded upon the lower side, the basal 

 segments linear and hanging like shreds; inflorescence 

 fragrant, from below the sheath, the young ones enclosed 

 in a thick bract; panicle 2 feet long, hanging; peduncle 

 divaricate, 6 inches in length, 3 inches wide across the 

 base which has a pair of stout auricles; flowers light 

 yellow except the creamy white anthers. 



Palawan: Brooks Point (Addison Peak). Province of 

 Palawan, March 1911, number 12662. These gracefully 

 standing trees of various heights form rather large dense 

 clusters in wet soil of swampy woods mixed with strag- 

 gling mangle-wood species. The Tagbanuas call it 

 "Anibung". 



