cook: a new genus of palms 119 



pearing until the leaves fall, the spathes opening as soon as released 

 by the falling of the leaf, and the flowers soon after. Spathes 2, of 

 nearl}^ equal length, strongly compressed, white and of very thin 

 delicate texture, their protective function being performed by the 

 leaf-sheaths. Newly opened inflorescences deep purple in color, the 

 flower buds much more crowded than in Seaforthia elegans, the branches 

 covered with a short close pubescence or scurf, this at first creamy 

 yellow, changing to light sulphur yellow, then fading to white. Flow- 

 ering branches simple, about 60 cm. long, strictly pendent almost 

 from the first, not erect-spreading or merely drooping from the weight 

 of the fruits as in Seaforthia elegans and other allied genera. 



Flowers purplish-pink throughout, including the petals, the fila- 

 ments and the connective of the anthers, and the pistillodes, but the 

 anthers and pollen uncolored. Sepals broadly imbricate, acutely 

 angled at apex and with a strong median carina, the fleshy basal por- 

 tion somewhat pinkish. Petals rather stiff and horny, translucent 

 when fresh, and with an abruptly thickened, transverse, fleshy pul- 

 vinus at base. Stamens 12-16, usually 13-15, often with some of the 

 filaments double. Pistillode about half the length .of the filaments, 

 not produced into a long filiform style, but with 2 or 3 divergent prongs, 

 these usually unequal (or only one, the others rudimentary) , sometimes 

 united with one of the filaments, inserted with the filaments at the 

 apex of a broad, turbinate cushion of loose, spongy texture. 



Fruits subgloliose, coral pink, 12 mm. long, 11.5 mm. wide; stigma 

 subapical, borne on a slightly elevated rim; epidermis smooth or with 

 slight, scattered, raised points; pericarp fleshy, thin, less than 0.5 

 mm. thick, supported by a firmer layer containing numerous broad 

 band-like fibers adhering to form a shell-like coat separable with diffi- 

 culty from a less fibrous layer of marbled white and coarse red cells 

 underneath, this marbled layer strongly adherent to the thick brownish 

 seed-coat and often entering deeply into the ruminations. No layer 

 of bony palisade tissue under the fibers as in Archontophoenix. 



Seeds subglobose, 10 mm. in diameter when fresh, somewhat ob- 

 liquely depressed or flattened above, slightly broader than long, not 

 sulcate, slightly flattened at the base, but not provided with adherent 

 basal and apical cushions as in Seaforthia. Surface of seed with an 

 adherent fibrous layer, the raphe represented by a broad band of ver- 

 tical embedded fibers. Albumen of rather soft, loose texture, with 

 deep and irregular ruminations, broader and less numerous than those 

 of Archontophoenix alexandrae, extending about half waj^ to the center 

 of the seed. Color of ruminations in fresh seeds pale yellowish brown, 

 becoming rusty brown, in dry seeds. Embryo erect, exactly basal. 



The type specimen, no. 694813 in the U. S. National Herbarium, 

 was collected at Santa Barbara, California, by the writer, November 

 11, 1914, the type individual being one of several unusually fine palms 

 in the collection of Mr. C. B. Hale, under the care of Mr. W. H. Morse. 

 The specimen consists of branches of an inflorescence, with unopened 

 flowers and ripe fruits. The characters and measurements of the 



