at considerable elevations in the Himalaya, 355 



■ ^' This species is closely allied to C. Martiana ; it differs in its 

 shorter stature, the petioles toothed throughout, in the nature of 

 the rete and the texture of the leaves, which is more like that of 

 C. humilis. The paleaceous tomentum much more developed, 

 and the berries ai'e bluish, net yellow. The divisions of the 

 leaves are much the same, excepting the secondary segments of 

 the central division, which are shallow, obtuse and recurved." 

 (The Palms of British East India, by W. Griffith, in M'Clelland's 

 Calcutta Journal of Natural History, No. 19. October 1844, 

 pp. 341, 343.) 



ChanKETops Martiana is described at length in the pages im- 

 mediately preceding the above, and is said to occur at Bunipa in 

 the valley of Nepal, at about 5000 feet above the sea-level. As 

 Mr. Griffith observes, the two palms are very closely allied : in 

 my opinion they may still turn out to be identical. Among the 

 supposed differences, that of " shorter stature " in C. Khasyana 

 is quite unfounded : as I have already noticed, it occurs on 

 Thakil mountain 50 feet high, whereas C. Martiana is only 

 quoted at 20 : the differences in the leaves may be accidental, for 

 while Mr. Gi'iffith states the lacinise of C. Martiana to be " glau- 

 cous underneath," and omits any mention of it in the descrip- 

 tion of C. Khasyana, I found it equally true of the latter on the 

 Gagur range. His description of the inflorescence and fruit is 

 (note to page 340) chiefly from Martins in ' PI. As. Rar.' iii. 

 p, 5. t. 211, where, however, Mr. Griffith pronounces that "the 

 representation of the inflorescence is probably quite wrong" 

 (p. 341) : and I suspect that the "yellowish," not "blue" frait, 

 may merely be due to the immature stage in which the former 

 were observed ; such at least is the case in others of this family : 

 for instance. Phoenix humilis, before mentioned as common about 

 Almorah, which exhibits various shades of yellow when unripe, 

 but as it matures becomes of a dark blue. This plant Mr. Grif- 

 tith was inclined to identify, very justly I believe, with Phoenix 

 acaulis, from which to Ph. sylvestris, the common wild date tree 

 of India, he observes (p. 352) that Ph. dactylifera and fa}-inifera 

 form complete transitions. I adopt Dr. Royle's specific name 

 humilis, in preference to acaulis, as the shrub has frequently a 

 stem several feet high, and may occasionally be observed in all 

 gradations up to a tree of 50 feet. Young plants of the dwarf 

 variety proper to vVlmorah are now flourishing at the Botanic 

 Gardens, Edinburgh, and Glasnevin near Dublin. 



