322 Palmece. \Loxococcus. 



Very commonly cultivated in the low country, but nowhere wild. 



Throughout Trop. Asia, but always cultivated, and it is not now 

 possible to tell where it originated. 



The nut supplies the well-known masticatory with betel leaves. It 

 has medicinal properties, chiefly as an astringent and vermifuge; catechu 

 is not made from it in Ceylon. 



2. A. concinna, Thiv. E?iu!n. 328 (1864). Zidn-teri, S. 



A. Dicksonii, Roxb. (?), Moon, Cat. 66. C. P. 620. 



Fl. B. Ind. vi. 406. Ann. Jard. Buitenz. i. t. 2 and 3, f. i. 



Trunk 8-12 ft. by ij-if in. diam., cylinclric, green; 1. few, 

 3-3 1 ft., spreading, leaflets 2 ft. by 2\ in. broad, lanceolate, 

 falcate, caudate-acuminate, subglabrous, lower simple, i-costate, 

 upper of 2 or more confluent, acuminate or toothed at the apex, 

 terminal shorter, more or less confluent in toothed laminae; 

 sheath 16 in. long; spadix branched, a foot or more long, 

 very shortly peduncled ; infl. as in A. Catechu; male fl. 

 biseriate, yV ii^- long. s^p. oblong, obtuse; pet. nearly thrice as 

 long, obliquely ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, striate; stam. 6, 

 anth. subsessile, linear-oblong acute, cells parallel, pistillode 

 trigonous; fern. fl. \-\ in. long, cal. an obscure unequally 

 3-lobed cup; pet. broadly ovate-oblong, obtuse; fr. i^ in. 

 long, subfusiformly ovoid, umbonate. 



Forests in the moist low country ; rather rare. Subaragamuwa 

 (Moon), Reigam Korale, Pasdun Korale. Fl. Sept. 



Endemic. 



The fruit is a brilliant scarlet. This is no doubt the 'Puwakghaha 

 Lenattcsi' of Herm. Mus. 66, and Burm. Thes. 183. 



This is occasionally planted, but the fruits, which are also chewed 

 with betel, like A. CatecJiu, are generally obtained from wild trees. 



2. IiOXOCOCCUS, Wendl. and Drude. 

 Trunk tall, erect, cylindric, annulate; 1. pinnatisect, leaflets 

 linear, obliquely truncate, reduplicate-plicate; spathes 2, 

 cymbiform ; spadix infrafoliar, moncecious, branched ; fl. 

 ternate, mostly in clusters of a fem. between 2 males, spirally 

 arranged round the branches; male fl. : — sep. 3, orbicular, 

 imbricate; pet. 3, much larger, ovate, valvate; stam. 9-12, fil. 

 very short, anth. subversatile, pistillode minute, ovoid ; fem. 

 fl. smaller than the male, subglobosc, sep. orbicular, broadly 

 imbricate, persistent, pet. ovate, broadly imbricate, tips valvate^ 

 staminodes o; ov. i -celled, stigmas 3, minute, ovule parietal ; 

 fr. subglobosc, cuspidately beaked, stigmas terminal, endo- 

 sperm ruminate, embryo subbasilar. — Monotypic. 



Xi. rupicola, Wendl. and Dr. in Linmea, xxxix. 185 (1875). 

 I>otaIu, S. 



