Urania. HEXANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 115 
‘of the leaves that have fallen off. Leaves cauline, bifa- 
‘rious, alternate approximating, petioled, erect when 
they first appear, and in all directions from that to di- 
-verging when about to decay, like the ribs of a semicir- 
cular fan, linear, oblong, nearly truncate at both ends, 
very smooth on beth sides, veins simple, diverging in a 
waving line, length about six feet and the breadth from 
two to three. Petioles about eight feet long, sheathing, a 
deep groove runs along the upper edge, except for two or 
three inches at the apex ; under side round, and smooth. 
Spadix axillary, solitary, much shorter than the peti- 
oles ; in our young trees many leaves intervene ; bifarious; — 
branches simple. «Spathes, common, three or four, alter- 
nate, embracing the stalks of the spadix, which are most- 
ly hid in the groove of the next petiole below. Partial 
spathes about twelve, cuneiform, from twelve to twenty- 
four inches long, the inferior being about twice the length 
of the uppermost, each enclosing about ten flowers in 
each side, every one of these flowers is also embraced by 
its own proper spathe. Flowers large, white, sessile, al- 
ternate in two rows on the upper side-of- the branches of 
the spadix, before expansion, imbricated in a horizontal 
line ; when expanded, erect, inodorous; while in blossom - 
the spathes are all completely filled with a super-abun- 
dance of clear, gelatinous matter. Calyx no other than 
the spathes already described. Corol six-petalled, three 
inner and three outer, all nearly ensiform, straight, 
and of a firm rigid texture, five of them are nearly equal © 
in size ; the sixth (one of the inner three) much small-— 
er, ‘the other two of this series adhere lengthways _ 
by their margins, overlapping each other, which m: 
have occasioned the corol to have been called - 
petalled, but their distinct insertions, and separat 
both above and below, readily point to very distir 
petals, Stamina six, the length of the corol. Anthers_ 
’ linear, slightly recurvate, twice ‘as long as their thic! 
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