THE PALMS OF BRITISH INDIA AND CEYLON. 53 



Laz'ge trees ; stem short, stout, anuulated. Leaves gigantic, 

 regular, pinnate ; leaflets linear with the midribs and edges spinu- 

 lose ; bases of the petioles sheathing, persistent some way down the 

 stem, the margins fibrous. 



Spadices growing from among the leaves about 3^ feet long, 

 much branched. No common spathe, but many small, incomplete 

 sheaths. Flowers monajcious, reddish-brown or greenish, male and 

 female in separate bracts of the same branch, Male flowers : calyx 

 campanulate, truncate ; corolla triphyllous ; stamens 6 — 8. 

 Female flowers : calyx 3-dentate, corolla campanulate-infundi- 

 buliform, o-partite half-way down. Ovar}' 3-locular ; stigmas 3, 

 sessile. 



Berry with large imbricated scales, unilocular and 1 -seeded 

 by abortion. Seed cylindric oval, elongate-erect ; embryo horizon- 

 tal in the middle ; albumen ruminate. 



Species about 20. — Tropical Africa and America. 



RAPHIA RUFFIA, Mart. Hist. Nat. Palm. Ill, 217 ; Kunth. Enum. 

 PI. Ill, 217; Wright in Th. Dyer. Fl. trop. Afr. VIIl, 104 (partim) ; Drude 

 in Engler Nat. Pflanzenf . I, 46, f. 36 ; Becc. in Agricolt. colon. IV. (1910), 

 t. I ; Webbia III (1910), 47. — R. pedunculata P. Beauv. in Desv. Journ. 

 Bot. II, 87, et in Fl. d'Oware et de Benin, I, 78, t. 44, f. 2, et t. 46, f. 2.— 

 R. lyciosa et R. polymita Comm. ex Kuuth, Enum.. PI. Ill, 217. — R. tama- 

 tavensis Sadebeck in Engl. Bot. Jahrbiicher, XXXVl (1905), 354 —i^. 

 vinifera, Drude (non Palis, de Beauv.) in Mart. Fl. Bras. v. 111. pt. II, 

 tantum in tab. 62, f. I. D.- — R. nicaraguends Oersted in Vidensk. Meddel 

 naturhist. Forening, Kjtibenh. 1858 (1859^ 52. — R. vinifera var. nicarn- 

 guensis Drude in Fl. Bras. 1. c. — Sagus farinifera, Gaertn. Fruct. et Sem. 

 II, t. 120, f. Z.— Sagus Ruffia Jacq." Fragm. 7 ; No. 27, t. 4, f. 2.— Sagus 

 pedunculata Lara. Encycl. Suppl. V, 13, et Illustr. Ill, 357, t. 771, f. 2, 

 a-g. — Sagus laevis. Griff. Palms Br. Ind., tantum in tab. CLXXXII. — 

 Metroxylon Ruffia Spreng. Syst. II, 139.* 



Names of the Tree. 



English : Raffia, raffia palm, rafia palm, raphiapalm, roffia, roffia 



palm. 

 FrewJi : Mouflia, palmier de Mayotte, raffia; rafia, raphia. 

 German : Bambuspalme, ]Madagaskarische Sagopalme, Raffia- 



bastpalme, Raffiaweinpalme. 

 Butch: Madagascarsche sagoboom, sagodragendepalm. 



Names of the Fibre, 

 In Madagascar : Rafia, 

 English : Raffia, rafia fibre, 

 French : Raffia, 



German : Bambuspalmenfaser, Raffia, Raffiafaser, Raphiastroh. 

 Dutch : Raffia, raffiabast, raffiabindbast, rafiavezel, raphia. 

 Description. — Stem up to 30 feet high and often (in very strong- 

 specimens) 3j feet in diameter, ringed. Leaves rising straight 



• Synonymy ex Becc. 1. c. 



