530 Cook : A Synopsis of the 



which in Inodes have secured strength by the development of a 

 midrib, a tendency early abandoned by Sabal in which the midrib 

 is rudimentary and the middle of the leaf is the weakest part. The 

 leaves of Sabal are adapted for standing erect and avoid resistance 

 to the wind by being split down the middle. The leaves of Inodes 

 which are held horizontal from an erect axis have attained the 

 unique adaptation of a decurved midrib which braces the sloping 

 sides of the leaf and effectively prevents the breaking above the 

 ligule common in some of the species of Thrinax. It is true that 

 leaves of young specimens of Inodes stand erect like those of Sabal 

 and do not have the curved midrib, but even at this stage the mid- 

 rib is relatively well developed and the blade opens out to an 

 almost circular form instead of occupying an arc of 180 degrees 

 or less as in the more strictly flabellate leaves of Sabal. 



Further differential characters might be enumerated, such as the 

 short ligule and the flat petiole of Sabal. The inflorescence and 

 seeds also afford differences, but these points are unnecessary for 

 diagnosis, and their proper expression will require careful com- 

 parative study of the species of both genera, since Sabal is not 

 monotypic but includes at least two species from the Southern 

 States and perhaps 5. Mexicana Martius. Guersent's 5. Adansonii, 

 the first binomial species to which the name Sabal was applied, 

 is,- to judge from the figure, the smaller of our species, while 

 Jacquin's Corypha minor may be the larger. Both species were 

 described from hothouse specimens and the plates give no de- 

 tails really adequate for identification, but if there are but two 

 species to be considered there can be little doubt that Jacquin's 

 drawing represents the larger of the two forms commonly referred 

 to Sabal Adansonii, since the leaves are nearly four feet long with 

 the mesial divisions united somewhat less than half way up. The 

 basal segments are represented, however, as diverging horizontally 

 and not obliquely as is usual in the living plants in the greenhouses 

 of the Department of Agriculture. 



Guersent maintained that he was dealing with the Sabal which 

 Adanson had in mind in naming the genus, and made his specific 

 name in accordance with that fact, treating Corypha minor Jacquin, 

 Corypha pumila Walter and Chamacrops acaulis Michaux as syno- 

 nyms. The relative merits of these names and of Chamaerops 



