402 JOURNAL OF THE WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES VOL. 13, No. 18 
primary branches with 12 to 15 branched secondaries, but usually the lowest 
secondary is simple and none of the secondaries are branched above the 12th 
primary branch; the upper primaries gradually reduced to the simple form, 
13 em. long, the subterminal primaries 7 to 8 cm. long; ultimate divisions of 
branches subtended by broad, needle-tipped bracts, the first fruit or flower-scar 
about 1 em. from the base, the lower scars 3 to 5 mm. apart, the upper closer 
together, each scar subtended by a minute bract and surrounded by a ring 
of prominent corneous tissue. 
Fruits at maturity rounded above, tapering at the base, 2 to 2.5 em. in 
diameter when fresh; double fruits common, 4.3 em. wide; triple fruits 
occasional. Pedicels of fruits about 5 mm. long, 3 mm. wide at base, 2 mm. 
wide in the middle, and 6 mm. wide above, including the broadly angled lobes 
of the calyx; petals probably increasing in size with the development of the 
fruits, becoming very tough and horny in texture, remaining alive till the 
fruit ripens, then changing from a light green to deep browniish color, at 
maturity nearly 1 em. long, 0.7 em. wide; filaments also persistent, about 4 
mm. long, 3 opposite the petals and adnate with the petals at base, the 3 
alternate filaments free from the petals. Stigmas of single fruit subbasal, 
persistent, short, divergent, 0.8 to 1 cm. from the insertion of the subtending 
petal; abortive carpels distinctly prominent, especially on double fruits where 
the abortive carpel usually has more development than on single fruits, and 
the stigma may be 1.3 em. above the petal; triplet fruits with the stigmas 
central, often persistent in a dry and blackened condition. 
Pericarp fleshy, the surface pruinose with a layer of wax, not shining, finely 
wrinkled when dry, the color changing from green through pale greenish 
yellow to pink and then to pinkish red, the skin and pulpy layer 2 to 3 mm. 
thick, with 3 zones easily distinguished before the stage of complete softening 
is reached, an outer firm layer that becomes red, under this a softer layer at 
first a transparent greenish color, becoming reddish yellow, and a somewhat 
firmer inner layer, at first lemon yellow and then orange, closely adherent to 
the bony endocarp, but easily removed, all the material becoming pulpy, with 
none of the firm fibers that are a feature in so many palms. 
Endocarp nearly spherical, slightly depressed, 1.4 to 1.8 em. in diameter, 
smooth, very hard and resilient, of a rather light coffee-brown color, with a 
firm shell less than half a millimeter in thickness, of very fine-grained, light- 
colored, horny, columnar tissue, and a membranous lining of nearly the same 
color as the outer surface, sometimes partly adherent to the seed; hilum nearly 
4 mm. wide, appearing as a circular aperture of the bony endocarp, closed 
with a hard woody material that forms a broadly conic or rounded external 
prominence pitted at the apex, similar to the hilum of the ivory palms; up- 
per margin of hilum scarcely elevated, forming no distinct tubercle or ad- 
hilum. 
Seed subspherical, slightly depressed, 1.3 to 1.6 em. in diameter, with a 
transversely elliptical central cavity 3 to 5 mm. across; surface of seed coated 
with a furfuraceous but closely adherent thin layer of light brown or tan- 
colored material overlaying a very smooth thin testa; raphe with two simple 
flexuous branches on each side, forming shallow grooves of pinkish fibrous 
material in the tan-colored layer, passing over and around the seed and 
approaching the embryo, which is indicated on the surface by a slight mammil- 
late prominence to which the light-brown surface coating does not adhere; 
embryo subbasal, about 5 mm. from the hilum, 4 mm. long, reaching nearly 
to the central cavity; endosperm hard, with a very fine, uniform, radial 
structure. 
