404 JOURNAL OF THE WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES VOL. 13, No. 18 
drying the petiole and lower part of the rachis are deeply channeled instead 
of nearly flat as in the living condition. The fallen sheaths are pinkish or 
salmon-brown inside, while the outside becomes nearly white, on account of 
the heavy coat of wax. The margins of the sheaths are thin and even, or 
somewhat torn, but scarcely fibrous, and the texture so firm that the outer 
leaves remain in place after the sheath has split nearly to the base. In other 
words, the sheaths are normally more open than in the royal palm, where the 
leaves would fall if the sheaths were split so far down. 
The outer shell of the trunk is extremely hard, almost vitreous in texture, 
and though longitudinally chinked or rimose on the surface appears very 
solid as though it were renewed from underneath, like the bark of a dicotyle- 
don. <A process of secondary thickening must go on especially in the bulging 
portion of the trunk, whose diameter is much greater than is ever attained by 
the terminal bud. To keep the outer shell continuous, while the trunk is 
enlarging, a continued growth of the shell would be required, and this may 
be the function of a thin layer of rather soft tissue immediately under the shell. 
The waxy coating of the leaf-sheaths, spathes, and other parts may be noted 
with other indications of relationship of Pseudophoenix with the Ceroxylaceae, 
or wax palms of South America. The structure of the fruit, with a bony 
endocarp of columnar tissue, and a specialized hilum plugged with woody 
material, presents analogies with the vegetable ivory palms, which also are 
natives of South America. 
NOTES ON PSEUDOPHOENIX SARGENTII 
Measurements given by Sargent? show that the Florida Pseudophoenix 
is a much smaller palm. The trunk is 12 to 15 feet tall and 10 to 12 in- 
ches in diameter, the leaves 5 to 6 feet long, the largest pinnae 18 inches long 
and Linch wide, the terminal pinnae 6 to 8 inches long and } to } inches wide, the 
petiole 6 to 8 inches long, the rachis 1 inch wide, the spadix 3 feet long, the 
fruits + to 2inch in diameter and the seed } inch in diameter. The number of 
pinnae is not stated but the drawing would indicate about 53 each side of the 
midrib. The drawing of a “branch of a fruiting panicle’ shows a greater 
degree of subdivision than in the Haitian species, since the lower tertiary 
branches are again divided, with 2 to 6 arms, and the ultimate divisions 
gradually reduced from 3 cm. to 1 em. or less, while in P. insignis the ultimate 
divisions are seldom less than 10 em. and usually are 12 to 15 em. long. 
A series of specimens from Miami, Florida, in the U.S. National Herbarium 
includes an apparently complete leaf with the blade 150 cm. long, the rachis 
130 em. and the rachis-bristle 18 em. The upper portion of the rachis has a 
median flange that remains distinct to the end. The pinnae are about 85 
on a side, the lower mostly in groups of two with an occasional single pinna, 
the lower groups with the pinnae narrow and very close together, the largest 
3 Silva 10:33. 
