174 



ON A NEW CHINESE CAEYOTA. 

 By H. F. Hance, Ph.D., F.L.S., &c. 



The climatic conditions of South-eastern China are not 

 favourable to the growth of Palms ; and hence the members of 

 this family bear but a small numerical proportion to the other 

 constituents of its rich and varied flora. Comparatively few 

 though they are, however, it is noteworthy that all appear, without 

 exception, to be endemic. IJvistona chinensis, E. Br., extensively 

 used for roofing, for building huts, and for making fans and rain- 

 cloaks, is not found anywhere wild out of Southern China ; whilst 

 Rhapis fiabeUiformis, Linn., a great favourite in cultivation, though 

 extending, it is stated, to the Loo-choo islands, is not indigenous 

 in Japan. The four Calami I have been so fortunate as to add to 

 the flora of Hong-kong* seem well distinguished from any of 

 their previously described congeners ; and the Phcenix which I had 

 supposed! to be identical with I\ fan'nifera, Eoxb., and most 

 probably also P. pusi/la, Lour., has been decided by authorities 

 with better materials for arriving at a just conclusion than are at 

 my command to be a distinct species, which M. Naudin has called 

 P. Hanceana. This last-named plant, it maybe remarked en passant, 

 is likely to become an object of considerable interest to horticul- 

 turists in the cooler parts of Europe, owing to its singularly hardy 

 constitution. M. Naudin, who raised it from seeds I sent him, at 

 his j)roperty at Collioure, in the Pyrenees orientales, thus wrote 

 me regarding it, in June, 1872, " La perle de mon jardin est 

 tonjours mon magnifigue Phceniv Hanceana, Ndn., qui vient 

 admirablement ici. II a endure, sans souffrance, trois hivers 

 consecutifs, tous trois exceftioneUement rndes pour le paj's. H y a 

 deux ans, il a ete litteralement enseveli sous un metre de neige, 

 pendant ouze jours, puis noye par I'eau glaciale de cette neige 

 fondue. II n'en a pousse que plus vigoureusement. L'annee 

 derniere il a produit une quinzaine de feuilles (palmes), et cette 

 annee il est en train d'en faire autant. Sa tige s'eleve dej^ 

 notablement au dessus du sol, et je ne desespere pas de le voir 

 fleurir l'annee prochaine. II y a quatre ans ce n'etait cependant 

 qu'une petite plaute en pot, et qui y languissait faute d'espace." 



I have now the pleasure of describing an eighth new palm 

 peculiar to this region. Carijota, the genus to which it belongs, 

 was founded by Linnaeus, the only species known to him, C. urens, 

 being the " Schunda pana" of Eheede. Blume made a study of 

 tlie species of the Indian archipelago, of which he admitted five,| 

 (\ maxima, Bl., C. propinqua, BL, C. liumphiana, Mart., C.furfu- 

 racea, Bl., and C. urens, Linn. The species are all very much 

 alike, and cannot be said, up to the present time, to be well known 

 or satisfactorily discriminated. Professor Beccari, the latest and 



* Trimen, Mourn. Bot.' xii., 203; xiii., 589. 

 f- Seem., ' Journ. Bot.', vii., 15. 

 + Ruuipliia, ii., 134, sqq. 



