nil: ILLUSTRATION' HORT1COLE. 



PL. (LXI. 



PRITCHARDIA PApIFICA, s 



PACIFIC ISLANDS PRITCHARDIA. 



aequabile, per chalastta 1 







Arbores erectac. iucmK-. 







jHDtirtriafo-t/itplicntn r>l , 







SPECIFIC CHARACTER: frondinm 







TPritchardia pacifica, Seemani 







— Seem., Flor. r,t.. p. 278. 







Up to the present time, there are tfa 



ree kn< 



urn, dr^r 



species of this magnificent genus of Pali 





nely: P.j 



ica, Seem, and Wendl.. P. Mnrfii, \\ < 



■mil.. ; 



tnd P. Q { 



chaudii, Wendl.. to which may lie addi 



•d. /'. 





ited at Ghent, in 1873, by M. Lindei 



,. And 



lirrhap- 



a fifth species, recently received from the San 



ilwich Isl; 



but of which the young, living plants 



are yd 



: insuffici 



developed for examination. Pritchardia 



parifu 



•a was di 



ered by the late Berthold Seemann 



in the 



Fiji or 



Islands, and elsewhere in Polynesia. It 



is om 



1 of the h 



somest Palms in existence, not so much 





count ..fi 



stature as of beauty in form. It belongs 



to the 



daw sol 



sought after in England termed Fan Pi 



.lm<. fl 



■om the b! 



of their leaves. 







Its trunk reaches a height of about ! 



10 to S 



6 feet, m 



diameter of 1 foot. It is straight and evei 



, throu 



.diout.de 



of spines, and bearing at its summit a magi: 



lificent, r 



larly globular crown of some twenty lar 



go le.n 



res, suppo 



on spineless petioles, 3 to 4 feet long, 



and Ci 



lothed wi 



brown fibre at the base. The blade of 



the le 



af is roul 



at the base, when young covered with 



a dirt) 



r-white d« 



and eventually tunning ;i I'an .1 l\-<i ),r 



oad In 



I feel l 



From the axils of the leaves proceed t 





ewhat fr:i 



spathes, which soon split to pieces and fall oft'. The intloi 

 escence never appears below the base of the crown. Th 

 spadix is about 3 feet long, solid and straight, bearin 

 numerous hermaphrodite flowers, of a yellowish brown hu< 

 succeeded by fleshy drupes, about half an inch in diametoi 

 resembling the sloe in colour, or, as has boon stated, exactl 

 like the black heart cherry. The pulp of the mesocarp is c 

 an astringent taste. 



Seeds were imported into Europe and Australia by See 

 mann, and they germinate very freely, so that the plant i 

 already beginning to spread. 



The natives of Polynesia call this tree Viu or Sahiki oi 



