Liberia <•- 



sules ; Kakatown, JV/iy/e ! ; Grand ]5asa, Voj^-e/, 40 ! ; Sino Basin, 

 lV/i}'tel; Cape Palmas, yi«i-^//! 

 A. ovato-oblongum, Beaiiv. : a trailing herb with very slender loose 

 panicles of very small lilac or white flowers and shining cap- 

 sules ; Cape Palmas, Ansell\ 



RAPATACE^: 



•Maschalocephalus dinklagei, Pilg- and K. Scliuni. : a perennial herb 



with basal tufts of long firm ensiform leaves (including the 



sheaths to 20 in. high by over i in.) with sessile axillary heads 



of yellowish white tubular very slender flowers (tube i^ in.^ 



lobes \ in. long) and small triangled capsules ; in marshy 



very shady places in primary forest near Fishtown, Dmklage, 



2088! 



PALM^ 



Phoenix reclinata, Jacq. : stem 3—4 ft. high, leaves 3 — 5 ft. long 

 with 50 or more rigid lanceolate pungent pinna; (i ft. long 

 by I in.) ; female inflorescences peduncled, branched, about 2 

 ft. long, fruits resembling a small date ; Monrovia and Cape 

 I'almas, according to Vogel. — Sometimes called " wild date." 



Calamus barteri, Bell, ex Drude : a tall climber with very slender 

 stems and leaves having lanceolate oblong pinna,' (up to 8 in. 

 by I in.), armed with very fine pungent spines on the rachis, 

 the margins and primary nerves ; Kakatown, Whyte ! — The 

 rattan palm. 



Raphia vinifera, Beauv. : a palm with a middle-sized stem bearing 

 an elegant tuft of pinnatisect leaves, 6 — 8 ft. long ; pinna; 

 spinulous ; fruits oblong-ellipsoid, about 3 in. long, covered with 

 smooth hard scales in 8 — 9 rows. — The stems of this palm, 

 which is known as " bamboo palm " to British colonists, are used 

 for building, the leaves for thatching, the bast for fibre, and the 

 sap of the trunk for making a sort of wine. This is the 

 " piassava " palm of the Americo-Liberians and produces the 

 fibre known by that name ; in the coast region. Sir H. H. 

 Johnston ! 



Borassus flabellifer var. sethiopum, Warb. {syn. B. a^thiopum, Mart.) : a 

 palm, 60 — 80 ft. high, with a straight stem thickening more or 

 less from the middle upwards, flabellate leaves, 5 — 12 ft. long 

 and divided almost to the middle into ensiform segments, and 



660 



