24 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 98 



Flower-clusters rather remote in the lower sections of the hranches, 

 then gradually closer, though not crowded as in Rooscvcltia, the 

 middle and upper sections becoming distinctly notched and flexuous 

 on account of the deep depressions formed by the male flower-buds ; 

 male flower-scars usually transverse or triangular, surrounded by a 

 narrow rim of compact tomentum, one of the pair often distinctly 

 pedicellate at least on the lower part of the hranches. 



Female flowers with sepals 3 mm. by 4 mm. ; petals subquadrate, 

 5 mm. long, subtended by two broadly triangular erect bracts, often 

 distinctly carinate on the outside, often exceeding 1 mm. in height. 

 Staminodes sometimes distinct, at least the outer 3, those alternating 

 with the petals minute and membranous or somewhat indurated. 



Fruits broadly conic-ovoid, with a prominent subapical stigma-scar 

 or slender shriveled style, surrounded by a low flattened frustum : 

 surface nearly smooth, the exocarp thin, firmly fleshy ; mesocarp 

 fibrous in two layers, an outer coat of brown interlaced and anastomos- 

 ing fibers and an inner coat of much finer pale-yellowish fibers, sub- 

 equal and parallel, imbedded in a rather firm fleshy membrane, the 

 surface of the testa only faintly impressed. 



Seeds reniform-globose, with uniform endosperm, basal embryo 

 and subapical hilum, a broad abrupt groove between the hilum and the 

 embryo, mostly occupied by the broad raphe decurrent from the hilum 

 to near the embryo. 



Seedlings with the first leaf compound, of 3 pinnae on each side 

 followed by at least 3 leaves with only 2 pinnae on a side, sheaths of 

 seedling leaves 6-7 cm. long, petioles to 19 cm. 



The original specimens of Plcctis oweniana, the type of the genus, 

 were collected in Alta Vera Paz, Guatemala, northwest of Panzos, 

 near the Finca Sepacuite, between Senahu and Cajabon, March 1902. 



The very large bracts or supplementary spathes subtending the 

 lower branches of the inflorescences and marking the locations of sup- 

 pressed branches are a notable example of the retention of a primitive 

 feature that in Rooscvcltia and most of the other related forms are 

 reduced to mere rudiments. The spathes undoubtedly are homologous 

 with the bracts that subtend the branches, some of the primitive palms 

 having compound inflorescences with spathes developed at each 

 branch, and all the spathes nearly equal, instead of the basal spathes 

 being largely developed and the others suppressed. The original pro- 

 tective function having passed entirely to the large basal spathes and 

 the leaf-sheaths, it is difficult to imagine that the large bracts of 

 Plcctis are of any use, though of scientific interest as marking a stage 



