Palme(^. 319 



below the top, effuse or more or less contracted, branches 

 unequal, 1-2 in. long, slender; fl. fascicled, xV~f i"- long, bracts 

 ovate, scarious; perianth-segments subequal, subulate-lanceo- 

 late, acuminate, coriaceous, stam. 3 ; capsule oblong or 

 obovoid, trigonous, truncate and retuse, pale brown, shining, 

 rather shorter than the perianth ; seeds very many, narrowly 

 oblong, testa pale brown, striate, thickened at the lower end. 



Upper montane zone ; common. Fl. Feb., &c. 



Also in Himalaya and Nilgiri Mts., and in Europe, Australia, and 

 N. and S. America. 



The Ceylon plant long supposed to be /. glaitciis by Thwaites and 

 subsequent authors (including Fl. B. Ind.), is correctly referred to J. 

 effusus, L., by Buchenau (Engl. Bot. Jahrb. i. 104). 



2. J. prismatocarpus, Br. Prod. FL Nov. Holl. 259 (1810). 

 J. LescJie7iaultii., J. Gay, Thw. Enum. 340. 

 Fl. B. Ind. vi. 395. 



Very variable in size and habit ; rootstock short, tufted ; 

 stems 18-24 in-, erect or decumbent and rooting at the nodes, 

 terete or compressed, leafy, pith continuous ; 1. 2-10 by 

 yV-J ii^M shorter than the stem, distinctly septate when dry, 

 narrowly linear, acuminate, compressed, spongy within ; cymes 

 terminal, irregularly compound, of many 6-io-fld. sessile and 

 peduncled bracteate heads of fl. ; bracts leafy, erect, shorter 

 than the cyme, bracteoles lanceolate, long-acuminate, hyaline; 

 fl. sessile, green or brown ; perianth-segm. \-\ in., subulate or 

 linear-lanceolate, glumaceous, acuminate ; stam. 3, fil. very 

 short, anth. oblong ; style short, stigmas long ; capsule longer 

 than the perianth, prismatic ; seeds obovoid or ellipsoid, very 

 minute, testa appressed, reticulate, not produced at either end. 



Wet places in the montane zone; very common. Fl. all the year; 

 green or brownish. 



Also throughout India, and in Burma, E. Asia, Australia. 



CXXXIX.— PALMES. 



Shrubs or trees, solitary or gregarious, unarmed, or armed 

 with straight or recurved spines ; stem erect, scandent, or 

 decumbent, simple or branched above, solid ; 1. alternate, 

 scattered, or crowded toward the top of the stem or trunk, 

 plaited in bud, pinnatisect or palmatisect, rarely simple or 

 bipinnately multisect, veins parallel ; fl. uni- or bisexual, small, 

 green or yellowish, in an axillary or terminal panicle or spike 



