PALM^ 103 



1. THRINAX, Sw. 



Small unarmed trees, with stems covered with pale gray rind. Leaves orbicular, or 

 truncate at the base, thick and firm, usually silvery white on the lower surface, divided 

 to below the middle into narrow acuminate parted segments with thickened margins 

 and midribs; rachises narrow borders, with thin usually undulate margins; ligules 

 thick, concave, pointed, lined while young with hoary tomentum ; petioles com- 

 pressed, rounded above and below, thin and smooth on the margins, with large clasp- 

 ing bright mahogany-red sheaths of slender matted fibres covered with thick hoary 

 tomentum. Spadix interfoliar, stalked, its primary branches short, alternate, flat- 

 tened, incurved, with numerous slender rounded flower-bearing branchlets; spathes 

 numerous, tubular, coriaceous, cleft and more or less tomentose at the apex. Flowers 

 opening in May and June, and occasionally irregularly in the. autumn, solitary, per- 

 fect ; perianth 6-lobed ; stamens inserted on the base of the perianth, with subulate 

 filaments thickened and only slightly united at the base, or nearly triangular and 

 united into a cup adnate to the perianth, and oblong anthers; ovary 1-celled, grad- 

 ually narrowed into a stout columnar style crowned by a large funnel-formed flat or 

 oblique stigma; ovule basilar, erect. Fruit a globose drupe with juicy bitter ivory 

 white flesh easily separable from the thin-shelled tawny brown nut. Seed free, erect, 

 slightly flattened at the ends, with an oblong pale conspicuous subbasilar hilum, a 

 short-branched raphe, a thin coat, and uniform albumen more or less deeply pene- 

 trated by a broad basal cavity ; embryo lateral. 



Thrinax is confined to the tropics of the New World and is distributed from south- 

 ern Florida through the West Indies to the shores of Central America. Seven or 

 eight species are now generally recognized. 



The wood of the Florida species is light and soft, with numerous small fibro-vascu- 

 lar bundles, the exterior of the stem being much harder than the spongy interior. 

 The stems are used for the piles of small wharves and turtle crawls, and the leaves 

 for thatch, and in making hats, baskets, and small ropes. 



Thrinax, from dpiva^, is in allusion to the shape of the leaves. 



CONSPECTUS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN SPECIES. 



Flowers on elongated pedicels ; perianth obscurely lobed ; filaments subulate, barely united 

 at the base ; stigma oblique. 1. T. Floridana (D). 



Flowers on short pedicels ; lobes of the perianth ovate, acuminate ; filaments nearly trian- 

 gular, united below into a cup ; stigma flat. 



Seeds pale chestnut-brown ; spadix about 6 long ; leaves 3-4 in diameter. 



2. T. Keyensis (D). 

 Seeds dark chestnut -brown ; spadix less than 3 long ; leaves not over 2 in diameter. 



3. T. microcarpa (D). 



1. Thrinax Floridana, Sarg. Thatch. 



Leaves 21-3 in diameter, rather longer than broad, yellow-green and lustrous on 

 the upper surface, silvery white on the lower surface, with long-pointed, bright 

 orange-colored ligules |' long and broad; their petioles 4-4^ long, pale yellow-green 

 or orange color toward the apex, coated at first with hoary deciduous tomentum, 

 much thickened and tomentose toward the base. Flowers: spadix 3-3^ long, 

 . the primary branches 6'-8' long and ivory-white, flower-bearing branches l^'-2' in 

 length. Flowers on slender pedicels nearly \' long, ivory-white, very fragrant, with 



