Missouri Botanical 
Garden Bulletin 
Vol. VII St. Louis, Mo., December, 1919 No. 10 
SUGAR PALM 
The Garden is in possession of a noteworthy specimen of 
sugar palm (Arenga saccharifera), donated by the late Mr. 
D. 8. Brown in 1913 from his collection at Brownhurst, Kirk- 
wood, Mo., and planted in the new conservatories (see Octo- 
ber, 1913, number of Butiermy). When transplanted the 
young terminal leaf was half grown, but after full develop- 
ment the center began to show an unusual crowding of the 
pinnae, which indicated that a check had been administered 
through transplanting. The plant remained dormant approx- 
imately one year, but during the last five years it has shown 
considerable activity in growth, the trunk increasing from 
six to seventeen feet in height and from two feet to two feet 
eight inches in diameter. It has produced fourteen new 
leaves since 1914, the last removed being the one showing 
the check through transplanting. 
The flowering habit of this palm is so irregular as to sug- 
gest a differentiation into various types and forms. Accord- 
ing to Simmonds in ‘‘Tropical Agriculture,’ the uppermost 
spikes open their flowers first, those lower down next, until 
the last one is produced near the base of the trunk. The 
first three spikes of the Garden specimen (see Vol. 7, pl. 14 of 
BuLLETIN) were abortive, the staminate flowers developing 
to about half the normal size, then dropping off. When 
examined no trace of stamens was evident, the central or 
pistillate flowers being persistent for several weeks and show- 
ing considerable growth, but subsequently falling off. The 
plant has now produced five large racemes, the first three 
composed of green, nut-like abortive flowers, while the two 
basal spikes contained very showy, perfect staminate yellow 
flowers, the entire structure presenting such an unusual ap- 
pearance as to call forth many inquiries from visitors. 
Owing to a shortage of sugar during the war the atten- 
tion of investigators was directed towards the discovery and 
introduction of newer types of sugar-producing plants. Palm 
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