cook: the mascarene cabbage palm 125 



Two of the fibers lying above the raphe are thicker and more prom- 

 inent than the others and remain unbranched. 



The lack of fibers on the raphe is a rather peculiar feature. A verti- 

 cal band of a paler color is visible on the inside of the endocarp running 

 from a basal expansion below the embryo to an apical pit at the chalaza. 

 Five or six of the grooves corresponding to the ruminations radiate 

 from the chalaza. The seed when sectioned transversely near the 

 middle also shows grooves, as more or less regular radial divisions 

 around a solid central core. The number of radiating grooves varies 

 from 8 to 11. 



The shape of the seed may be considered as a resemblance to Sea- 

 forthia and Ptychosperma, but there are no indications of the broad 

 longitudinal grooves that characterize the seeds of those genera. 



The characters of the pistillodes in this group of palms show an 

 unusual form of specialization of these rudimentary organs. The 

 usual tendency in the evolution of unisexual flowers is to reduce the 

 functionless organs, or to suppress them altogether. The staminodes 

 of these palms are mere rudiments of stamens, but the pistillodes 

 show distinct tendencies to share the characters of the filaments, in 

 size, form, and texture. This tendency is least apparent in Loroma, 

 is moderately pronounced in Linoma, and is best developed in Sea- 

 forthia and Archontophoenix, where the pistillodes even exceed the 

 filaments. Whether the pistillode will be found in any case to be 

 replaced by a normal functional stamen, remains to be seen. Such 

 a change, in which one organ assumes characters that belonged origi- 

 nally to another, is recognized as representing a general class of evolu- 

 tionary phenomena called translocation or metaphanic variations. 4 



The spathes when fresh are of a thin, fleshy or membranous texture, 

 the inner more delicate, becoming chartaceous when dry and splitting 

 readily into longitudinal shreds. As in Loroma the original function 

 of the spathes in protecting the young inflorescences has been assumed 

 by the leaf sheaths. The inflorescence with its spathes remains com- 

 pletely enclosed by the leaf sheath until the flowering stage is reached, 

 being unable to emerge until the leaf falls. Very soon after this the 

 spathes also fall off and the flowers open. The outer and inner spathes 

 of Linoma are both complete, and of nearly equal length, but the outer 

 is much broader. The margins are broadly carinate-alate, with the 

 edges very thin and densely pilose, at least near the apex. 



4 Cook, O. F. Br achy sm, a hereditary deformity of cotton and other plants. 

 Journ. Agr. Research, 4: 397. 1915. 



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