56 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXV. 



mahogany red colour, shiuing, strongly convex, deeply sulcate lon- 

 gitudinalty, margin very narrow, scarious, blackish, fimbriate-ciliate, 

 prolonged into an obtuse apex. Pericarp on the whole ^-|- inch 

 thick. Seed obovate, rotundate at the apex, more or less attenuate 

 and acute below, sometimes .^^--^^ i^^ch thick, and still thicker 

 at the base ; albumen yevy hard, osseous, white and penetrated by 

 intrusions of the integument which render it more or less ruminate. 

 Embryo situated on one side, a little below the middle. 



Habitat. — Indigenous in Madagascar. Extensively cultivated 

 on the Mascarene Islands. Naturalized in America. 



Illustration. — The specimen of Raphia ruffia shown on plate 

 XCVI grows in the Botanic Gardens of Peradeniya. In the centre 

 of the crown a fruiting spadix is visible. The palm was photo- 

 graphed by Mr. Macmillan. 



RAPHIA VINIFERA, Palis, de Beauv. in Desvaux, Journ. de Bot. lb 

 (1809) 87, et Fl. d'Oware et de Benin, 1, 77, t. 44, f. 1, 45 (excl. syn. 

 Gaertn.) et tab. 46, f. 1. a. b. c. d. ; Martins Hist. Nat. Palm. Ill, 217 

 (ed. 1) ; Beccari in Webbia III (1910) 88. — Sar/us vinifera Lam. Encycl., 

 Suppl. V, 13 {?)Safjus Ruffia rar. /5 Willd. Sp. pi. IV, A0i.—Metro.vylo7i 

 mnifevum Spreng. Syst.veg. II, 139, n, 2. 



Names of the Tree. 



JEnglislb : Bamboo palm, Jupati palm, Pharaoh's date-palm, wine 



palm. 

 French : Bourdon, palmier a vin, raphier. 

 German : Bambuspalme, Echte Weinpalme, Weingebende Sago- 



palme, Weinpalme. 

 Dutch : Raphiavezelpalm. 



Names of the Jujce. 



Engiish : Palm wine, todd}'. 

 French : Vin de paime. 

 German : Palmwein. 

 Dutch : Palmwijn. 



Names of the Fibre, 



English : African bass, African bass fibre, Lagos bass, Lagos 

 rafia, West African bass. West African bass fibre. West Afri- 

 can piassava, West African rafia. 



Butch : West-Afrikaansche raflia. 



Of the fibre from the young unopened leaves. 



English : Rapliia grass. 



Description. — Stem comparatively short. Leaves rising nearly 

 vertically from the stem, bending out on every side in graceful 

 curves, forming a magnificent ph n.e.Spadices very large, com- 

 poundly branched and drooping, growin <uw between the eaves 

 and having numerous bract-like sheaths. fPartial inflorescence on 



