150 PHILIPPINE PALMS 
b'. Large, with solitary stems. Fruit more or less turbinate, 3 cm or 
more in diameter. Male flowers with very numerous stamens; 
UMIGIVOT'S NAT US DACs So eee tc ea ar ree 1. A. pinnata, 
b*. Relatively small and caespitose. Male flowers with 20 to 30 stamens; 
anthers blunt or slightly apiculate. Fruit spherical, 15 to 18 mm in 
FouteWagts| hoy giee. cteee take DB fe Werte Sa seer come Ne or Nee el ttn eee Soe te 2. A. tremula. 
a*, Leaflets elongate, yet broad, margins very irregularly undulate or else 
very boldly toothed, or lobed; secondary nerves divergent from the 
rachis at different levels. 
b'. Caespitose; stem attaining 2 to 3 m in height and 15 cm in diameter. 
Male flowers with a rounded top. Stamens about 150. Fruit longer 
than broad, rounded at both ends)... 8. A. tremula. 
b?. Stem short and thick, about 30 cm in diameter. Male flowers 
apiculate. Stamens about 100. Fruit spherical........ 4. A. Ambong. 
ARENGA AMBONG Becc. AMBUNG. 
Local name: Ambing (Moro). 
This palm, like Arenga tremula, has a very short stem and 
grows in large tufts or clumps. It is much larger than the 
above species and is characterized by its very much broader 
leaflets which are prominently lobed, about 70 centimeters long 
and from 6 to 10 centimeters wide. It occurs in Palawan, Ba- 
labac, Mindanao, Cebu, southern Luzon, and probably in some 
other islands. Arenga ambong is a very beautiful species, but 
is never cultivated in the Philippines for ornamental purposes, 
although well worthy of being so used. The buds (tbud) are 
edible. In Palawan, the aborigines, Tagbanuas, use blowguns 
and small poisoned darts made of bamboo. Small obconic plugs 
secured from the pith of this palm are put on the upper ends of 
the darts for the purpose of making them fit closely the bore of 
the blowgun. This species probably has other economic uses, 
but no definite ones have been as yet recorded. 
ARENGA PINNATA (Wurmb) Merr. (Plates VII, VIII). KAone or 
SUGAR PALM. 
Local names: Bagatbat (Oriental Negros); batbat (Bohol) ; cabo negro 
(Spanish-Filipino, “black rope”); ebidk, ibidk (Bohol); habidk (Capiz) ; 
hibiok (Capiz, Occidental Negros); hidiok (Camarines, Albay, Antique, 
Capiz) ; igék (Antique) ; irok (Zambales, Cavite, Tayabas, Mindoro) ; kdong 
(Manila, Rizal, Cavite, Laguna) ; kawing (Bataan); ondu, unau (Misamis, 
Surigao); rapitan (Ilocos provinces). 
This rather large palm (commonly known as Arenga sac- 
charifera Labill.) is characterized among the Philippine species 
by its very long, ascending, pinnate leaves, which are up to 
8.5 meters in length with 100 or more pairs of linear leaflets 
which are whitish beneath, 1 to 1.5 meters long, lobed at the 
apex and auricled at the base. The large axillary, pendulous 
inflorescence is also characteristic. Arenga pinnata reaches a 
