KENTIA (KENTIOPSIS? 



) BALMOREANA. 



NAT. ORD. PALM.' 

 after W U n Re t d ? ner who accom, 



ETYMOLOGY 



Archipelago. 



GENERIC CHARACTER : flores monoici, in eodem spadie 

 scrobiculos sessiles, bracteis obsoletis rhachi coalescentibus , m; 

 inter se imbricatis. Corolla tripetala, petalis in praefloratione \i 

 rudiinentum. Fem. : valj/x triphyllus et corolla tripetala dissimil 

 Ovarium nniloculare, ovulo in fxmdo affixo. Stigmata tria distil 

 aequabile. Embryo exacte basUarig, — Paimae rupesln -. ,-,> ■■! . . 

 confertis pinnatiscdis, st'gmoiN.s reduplbntis liuearibus /»'</;„ 

 frontliwn vaginas rbmgatas atalis sabrrrti filial is . spaf/tis coriw 

 scyobiculis svpcrfieialibiis florr. mw /bfminro minor i ac bin is ma, 

 ovoideis vel ellipsniii is c lau , minimis, ricutrkr sfiamalam ml 



Kentia, Blume, Bumphia, II, 94. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTER : 



This is one of three Palms brought from Lord Howe's 

 islands by Mr. J. Moore, director of the Botanic Garden of 

 Sydney, Australia, who was the first to discover them. They 

 were only known to us through the descriptions published 

 in English Catalogues, at the time they were sent out. 

 Thanks to the kindness of Mr. Brongniart we were directed 

 to a recent part of Miiller's Fragmenta phytographiae austra- 

 liae, in which the very species in question are noticed. 

 Unfortunately the information is very meagre. He enumerates 

 Kentia Canterbury ana, Balmoreana and Mooreana, but gives 

 no exact localities, and limits his description to an exa- 

 mination of the flowers and fruits. So far as our plant is 

 concerned, he gives no reference to the work in which it 

 was first described, merely quoting the Report on the 



From a i 



THE GIANT NETTLE. 



English horticultural journals are occupied at the present 

 time with a large Australian tree , known under the name 

 of Giant Nettle {Laportea gig as, Wedd.) the stinging pro- 

 perties of which are in direct proportion to its size. At the 

 time the horticultural establishment of the city of Paris 

 at La Muette was under our direction, one of our men was 

 pricked by the hairs of a Laportea gigas, which we cultivated 

 for the beauty of its foliage. His arm swelled almost 

 stantaneously. In the evening he was prostate on his I 

 suffering from a raging fever, which lasted three or f( 

 days. He felt pains in the wounded part for some time 

 afterwards. 



In Cassell's Illustrated Travels we find some additional 

 information on this subject, contributed by a traveller in 

 Australia. When the tree is shaken it scatters short silvery 

 hairs which cause extreme irritation of the skin and nostrils. 

 If touched they cause a violent sting which is felt for months, 

 accompanied by pains in the shoulders and arm-pits , where 

 small boils are formed. For a long time afterwards the 





with lian.KoiiM 

 foot long and n 



