PALMAE Cat 
4, S. scrobiculata Nees. 
A stout, loosely tufted, glabrous perennial, the stems up to 1.5 m in 
height, scabrid on the angles. Leaves numerous, 12 to 30 cm long, about 
1 cm wide, sometimes narrower, margins scabrous, the upper ones falsely 
opposite or ternate, the sheaths triangular, scabrid. Panicles 15 to 20 cm 
long, the partial ones 5 to 10 cm long, spreading or ascending. Spikelets 
brownish-purple, numerous, about 5 mm long, scattered or slightly clustered. 
Nut white, globose, rugose, 2.5 to 3 mm in diameter. 
In thickets, La Loma, fl. most of the year; widely distributed in the 
Philippines. Malay Peninsula to New Guinea. 
‘ 
14. DIPLACRUM R. Brown 
A small, tufted, glabrous annual with leafy stems, the leaves linear. 
Spikelets in small, dense, axillary clusters at the mouths of the leaf-sheaths, 
small, unisexual. Male spikelets 1- or 2-flowered, the glumes about 3, 
narrow, thin. Female spikelets 1-flowered, the glumes distichous, the lower 
ones boat-shaped, empty, the upper oblong, 3-lobed, many-veined, the middle 
lobe stout, the lateral one short, incurved. Nut smooth, white, fluted 
longitudinally; style slender; stigmas 3. 
A monotypic genus. 
1. D. caricinum R. Br. (Scleria caricina Benth.). 
A slender tufted plant 5 to 15 cm high, glabrous or nearly so. Leaves 
1 to 4 cm long, acute, narrow. Heads sessile, axillary, less than 5 mm in 
diameter. Female spikelets 3 to 4 mm long, the nut globose, about 1 mm 
in diameter. 
In old rice-paddies and fallow lands, La Loma, rare, fil. Nov.—Dec.; of 
local occurrence in the Philippines. India to China, Malaya, and Australia. 
15. PALMAE (PALM oR ANAHAO FAMILY) 
Erect shrubs or trees, slender or very large, sometimes climbing, naked 
or spiny. Stems unbranched, cylindric. Leaves alternate, at the ends 
of the stems, palmate, pinnate, or bipinnate, the petioles sheathing. Flow- 
ers small, 1- or 2-sexual in panicles or spikes (spadices) that are often 
more or less enclosed by one or more large sheathing bracts (spathes). 
Perianth-segments 6, in 2 series, usually all free, imbricate or valvate. Sta- 
mens 3 to 6, sometimes more. Ovary 1- to 3-celled, or of 3 1-celled carpels, 
superior; stigmas 8, usually sessile; ovules 1 or 2 in each cell. Fruit 
a 1 to 3-celled drupe, or berry-like with 1 to 3 carpels. 
Genera 150, species about 1,350, chiefly tropical, 21 genera and over 
100 species in the Philippines. 
1. Leaves orbicular, palmately lobed. 
2. Inflorescence axillary, pendulous or spreading........................ 1. Livistona 
2. Inflorescence a very large, terminal, erect panicle.................. 2. Corypha 
1. Leaves bipinnate; leaflets obliquely rhomboid to lanceolate, strongly 
OE Tog ila lis 2 MD A chi Ane cea Sa <A oo Ai Ce 3. Caryota 
1. Leaves simply pinnate. } 
2. Slender climbing palms, the younger parts armed with spines, also 
bearing long, retrorsely armed flagellae.......................0........ 4. Calamus 
