Khopalostylis. | PALM. 739 
Orper LXXXIV. PALM. 
‘ Woody plants, usually with an erect stem bearing a terminal 
crown of large pinnate or fan-shaped leaves, rarely climbing or 
decumbent. Flowers regular, hermaphrodite or unisexual, small, 
numerous, arranged in spikes or panicles called spadices, which are 
enclosed when young within a large and broad deciduous bract 
called a spathe. Perianth inferior, coriaceous, persistent, of 6 seg- 
ments in 2 series; the outer imbricate, often united into a 3-toothed 
or -lobed cup; the inner usually valvate. Stamens generally 6 or 3, 
rarely more, inserted at the base of the perianth ; filaments free or 
connate, subulate or filiform; anthers versatile. Ovary superior, 
1- or 3-celled, or of 3 distinct carpels; style very short or want- 
ing; stigmas 3, sessile; ovules solitary (rarely 2) in each cell. 
Fruit a drupe or berry; exocarp thick, spongy, fleshy, or fibrous ; 
endocarp membranous or crustaceous or bony. Seed with copious 
horny cartilaginous or oily albumen; embryo small, in a cavity near 
the surface of the albumen. 
A majestic order, comprising nearly 130 genera and about 1100 species, 
almost wholly confined to tropical or warm extratropical regions, a few only 
found in northern or southern temperate latitudes. Few families are more 
generally useful, or applied to a greater variety of purposes. The timber, the 
foliage, the fruit, the starchy pith, and the fermentable sap are all employed. 
The cocoanut, date, sago-palm, cabbage-palm, betel-palm, African oil-palm, &c., 
are some of the besti known species. The single genus found in New Zealand 
also occurs in Norfolk Island. 
1. RHOPALOSTYLIS, Wendl. and Drude. 
Stem tall, erect, marked with annulate scars. Leaves in a ter- 
minal crown, pinnately divided; segments numerous, equidistant, 
narrow-ensiform, acuminate, midrib stout, margins recurved to- 
wards the base. Inflorescence at the base of the leaves, of a much 
and densely branched spadix enclosed within two boat-shaped 
spathes. Flowers moncecious, the males and females on the same 
spadix, densely crowded, sessile, usually in threes, a female in the 
centre with a male on each side of it. Male flowers: Sepals subu- 
late-lanceolate. Petals rather larger, obliquely ovate, acuminate, 
valvate. Stamens 6; filaments subulate, inflexed at the tips; 
anthers linear-oblong, dorsifixed, versatile. Rudimentary ovary 
columnar. Female flowers: Smaller and broader than the males, 
almost globose. Sepals rounded, concave, imbricating. Petals 
smaller. Ovary ovoid, 1-celled; stigma sessile, 3-fid; ovule pa: 
rietal. Drupe ellipsoid or nearly globose; exocarp fleshy and 
succulent; endocarp fibrous within. Seed erect; albumen smooth, 
not ruminated ; embryo basilar. 
A genus consisting of the two following species, confined to New Zealand, 
Norfolk Island, and the Kermadec Islands. 
Trunk rather slender, 10-30ft. Drupe oblong .. .. 1. &. sapida. 
Trunk stout, 20-50 ft. Drupe globose Bt a De, Lu Rene. 
