Dr. J. E. Smith's Defcriptm of the Fruit ofCycas revoluta. 3 1 3 



ftalks. A fimple circle of about 40 evergreen pinnate leaves crowns 

 the fummit, forming a magnificent bafon, whofe margin meafurcs 

 10 or 12 feet acrofs, and 5 or 6 feet in height above the level of the 

 bark bed of the ftove. On mojnting a ladder we beheld in the bot- 

 tom of this verdant and fhining amphitheatre a circular cluder, per- 

 haps 18 inches wide, of above an hundred orange-coloured downy 

 oval fruits, intermingled with innumerable palmate, pale brown, 

 thick and woolly leaves or fronds, each of whofe finger-like fegments 

 was tipped with a foarp fpine. With refpea to its earlier ftate, the 

 Bifliop has informed me, that on his arrival at Farnham early in 

 September, the gardener informed his lordfhip the Cycas " had borne 

 a fmo-ular appearance during fummer." On infpeaion, the crown of 

 the plant was found occupied by the abovementioned woolly leaves, 

 then beautifully laciniated though not fpinous, and having the 

 appearance of a Jirobilus or cone, hollow like a bird's neft, and 

 filled with a quantity of green drup^, about tht fize of half-grown 

 apricots, and intermixed with the fame kind of downy greyifh leaves 

 that furrounded them. The changes which had taken place from 

 that time to the period of my arrival were, that the whole clufter of 

 fronds and fruit had become rather convex than concave, the fronds 

 were browner, fpines had grown at the tip of each of their length- 

 ened fegments, and the drupa: were become nearly as large as a mo- 

 derate fized apricot, and further xefembled that fruit in their rich 

 orange hue and downy furface. 



On feparating fome of thele woolly leaves, they were found to be 

 true fronds. Each was from 6 to 8 inches long, flefhy, entirely 

 clothed with pale brown woolly down; their lower part a fiattilli ftalk; 

 their middle bearing on each margin a row of 3 or four feffile drupa-, 

 their extremity dilated into a pinnatifid, or rather palmate, many- 

 fingered leaf, whofe lobes were generally curved inwards, and tippqj^ 

 with a ipine as before mentioned. Whea wounded, thefe fronds 

 VoL.yi. Ss diftiUcd 



