AKECACEAE. 59 



filaments nearly triangular; drupes 4-6 mm. in diameter, white, very nearly 

 sessile. 



Sandy and rocky soil, throughout the archipelago from Great Bahama and 

 Abaco to Mai-iguana. Caicos Islands and Inagua : Florida ; Cuba. SMALL-FKUITED 

 THATCH-PALM. BUFFALO-TOP. 



2. Thrinax parviflora Sw. Prodr. 57. 1788. 



Thrinax floridana Sargent, Bot. Gaz. 27: 84. 1899. 



A tree up to 9 m. high or more, with a trunk about 1.5 cm. in diameter. 

 Leaves up to 1.5 m. in diameter, deeply cleft into numerous narrow segments, 

 green and shining above, silvery-white beneath, at least when young, the acute 

 ligule 1-2 cm. long ; inflorescence up to 1 m. long ; pedicels slender, about 3 mm. 

 long; drupes 6-9 mm. in diameter, white, distinctly stalked. 



Sandy soil, North Cat Cay : Florida ; Cuba ; Jamaica. LARGE-FBTJITED THATCH- 

 PALM. 



2. COCCOTHRINAX Sargent, Bot. Gaz. 27: 87. 1899. 



Unarmed, tall or low palms, with nearly orbicular, palmately cleft, petioled 

 leaves, the petioles flat, the segments usually 2-cleft at the apex, the sheathed 

 inflorescence paniculately branched, the small perfect pedicelled flowers white. 

 Calyx and corolla united into a 6-lo'bed perianth. Stamens 9-12; filaments 

 subulate. Ovary 1 -celled; style terminal; stigma funnelform. Drupes small, 

 globose. Seed erect; endosperm grooved; embryo lateral. [Greek, berry- 

 Thrinax.] About 10 species, of Florida and the West Indies. Type species: 

 Coccothrinax jucunda Sargent. 



1. Ccccothrinax argentea (Lodd.) Sargent, Silva N. A. 14: 85. 1902. 



Thrinax argentea Lodd.; E. & S. Syst. 7: 1300. 1830. 

 Coccothrinax jucunda Sargent, Bot. Gaz. 27: 89. 1899. 



Trunk sometimes 10 m. high, usually not more than 6 m., sometimes very 

 short, 1.5-2 dm. in diameter. Leaves nearly orbicular, 7 dm. broad or less, 

 cleft to beyond the middle into narrowly lanceolate, acuminate segments, 

 bright green and shining above, silvery-white beneath, at least when young, 

 the slender petioles about as long as the blades, their bases expanded into per- 

 sistent fibrous sheaths ; panicles short-stalked, mostly shorter than the petioles ; 

 pedicels 1-3 mm. long, thickened in fruit ; flowers about 3 mm. broad ; stamens 

 usually 9 ; fruit globose, black, 8-12 mm. in diameter. 



Throughout the archipelago from Abaco. Berry Islands and Andros to the 

 Caicos, Inagua and Anguilla Isles and Cay Sal (not observed on Great Bahama) : 

 Florida: Cuba; Hispaniola ; Porto Rico; St. Thomas; St. Jan: St. Croix ; Jamaica. 

 Recorded by Dolley and by Hitchcock as Thrinax parviflora Sw. SILVER THATCH. 

 SILVER-TOP. BAY-TOP. 



3. SABAL Adans; Guersent, Bull. Soc. Philom. 3: 206. 1803. 



Unarmed palms, the stems erect, creeping or subterranean, the leaves 

 palmately cleft, with a long petiole and a short rachis, the narrow segments 

 bearing marginal fibres, 1-cleft or 2-eleft, the petiole concave above. Panicles 

 spreading or drooping. Flowers perfect, white or greenish. Calyx-lobes 3, 

 unequal. Petals 3, imbricated. Stamens 6 ; filaments subulate or lanceolate, 

 united at the base. Ovary 3-celled; style 3-angled; stigma truncate. Drupes 

 solitary, with a thin epicarp and a fleshy pericarp. Seed depressed-globose, 



