68 ON A CHINESE SCEEWPINE. 



Hongkong, I found this Screwpine abundantly, but never, unfortu- 

 nately, in flower or fruit. I am, however, indebted to my friend the 

 Rev. James Lamont, an active and enthusiastic student of the I'lora, 

 for a fine syncarpium, and it is on au examination of this that the fol- 

 lowing remarks are based. 



Specimens of Pandanus are for the most part exceedingly rare in 

 collections. Uninviting in aspect, and usually with bulky fruit, not 

 easy to preserve except in fluid, and very inconvenient to carry about, 

 they are naturally avoided by most collectors. Up to the present day 

 our knowledge of the Mascarenian species is altogether vague and un- 

 certain, and it is only recently that the Asiatic forms, continental and 

 insular, have been systematically studied. This task was undertaken 

 by Mr. Sulpiz Kurz, (curator of the herbarium of the Calcutta Botanic 

 Gardens, and formerly attached to those at Buitenzorg in Java, — the 

 finest and most extensive, I believe, in the world — whose acquaintance 

 with the species iu a living state is unrivalled. Preluding by an exa- 

 mination of those cultivated at Buitenzorg,^' he followed this up by as 

 complete a revision of all the Indian species as the materials at his 

 disposal permitted ; j- and supplemented and corrected his work by some 

 further '' Remarks on the species of Panel anus, '''\ in which he some- 

 what modified the sections he had at first admitted. Taking the 

 results of this gentleman's labours as my guide, I have been unable 

 to identify the Hongkong plant with any of those he has enumerated, 

 nor does its systematic position seem at all clear. The following 

 character is drawn up from a very careful examination : — 



Pandanus urophylhis, sp. nov. — Acaulis, foliis longitudinem 13 

 pedum et ultra attingentibus 1| poll, latis crasse coriaceis ensiformibus 

 apice in acumen trigono-subulatum semipedale aculeatissimum attenu- 

 atis plus minus conspicue marmoratis carina cum laminae dimidio 

 mediano sulcum triangularem eff'ormanti lateribus exteribus sub 

 angulo fere recto deviis marginibus dorsoque aculeis compressis cur- 

 vatis 3-1 lin. longis iis basin folii versus distantibus apicem versus 

 magis confertis dorsalibus in dimidio folii inferiore deorsum in superiore 

 sursum recurvis a. rautis, syncarpiis solitariis erectis ellipsoideis obtusis 

 5 pollices longis diametro 3-pollicari maturis atro-fuscis spathis mox 

 in fibras solutis circumdatis, drupis circ. 160 in singulo syncarpio 

 simpliciter dispositis siccis mutua pressione irregulariter et obtuse 

 5-4-angulatiscuneiformibus 1^ poll, longis diametro majori 6-9 lineali 

 vertice convexiusculo asperitudinibus minutis obsessis§ epicarpio 

 fasciculis raphidum albo-nitentium consito mesocarpio in fibras tenaces 

 putamini arctissime adhaerentes soluto putamine erasso fibroso-osseo 

 obconico in vertice complanato spina armato basi pervio intus lacui 



♦ Observ. in quibusd. Pandaneis in hort. Bogor. cultis. (Miquel Ann. Mus. 

 bot. Lugd.-Bat., ii., 52.) 



t Journ. Bot. v., (1867), 93, 125, sqq. 

 X Journ. A.9. Soc. Bengal, pt. ii., 145, sqq. 



§ In a fresh young fruit kindly sent by Mr. C, Ford, long after the above 

 diagnosis was drawn out, I find no trace of these asperities. The parenchyma- 

 tous tissue lined with delicate jfibres, which forms the upper and under surfaces 

 of the ovate-lanceolate navicular spathes, has so little cohesion with the coarse 

 fibro- vascular nerves, that it separates spontaneously, and can be drawn oflF like a 

 glove. 



