C^/cas.] cxxx. CYCADACE;r. (Prain). 345 



1. CYCAS, Linn. ; Bentli. ct Hook. f. CVn. PI. iii. 414. 



Cones 1-sexiial. (licrcious. Malo apparently tcnuinal, pedunclcd ; 

 scales eiineate, closely imbricate ; apex often long-acinninate ; pollen- 

 sacs ellipsoid, in groups of 3-5 on the lower face. Female hlade.s 

 numerous, crowded round the apex of the ultimately produced 

 stem, densely woolly, at first appressed into a terminal cone, soon 

 spreading, elongate, flattened, dilated upwards, entin*, crenate or 

 pectinate. Ovules 1-5, in notches on either side of the stalk, rather 

 remote, alternate or opposite, nearly erect. Seeds ellipsoid or globose. 

 — Shrubs or small trees with a simple or casually branclied cylindric 

 trunk clothed with the woody l)ases of the petioles. Leaves in 

 terminal crowns, linear-oblong, pinnate ; pinnules linear, 1 -nerved, 

 quite entire, circinate in bud ; lower often reduced to spines. 



Specie.<? about 12, extending from tropical East Africa to Polynesia. 



I. C. Thouarsii, R. Br. Prodr. 347 {Thuarsii). Stem well- 

 developed, cylindric, casually branched when old, 12-20 ft. high, 

 \\ ft. thick. Leaves 5-9 ft. long, 1-2 ft. wide al)ove the middle, 

 bright green, shining above, rather paler beneath ; petiole and 

 rhachis slightly angular, quite glabrous ; pinnules very coriaceous, 

 60-70 pairs, linear, gently curved, 8-15 in. long, l-l in. wide, slightly 

 unequally attenuated at the base the lower edge there shortly de- 

 current and somewhat concave, apex acutely acuminate slightly 

 indurated, margin entire on either edge, midrib grooved above. 

 Male cone shortly peduncled, brow^n, oblong-cylindric, 1-1 ^ ft. long, 

 5-6 in. wide ; peduncle under 2 in. long, sparingly brown-pubescent ; 

 scales horizontally spreading, obovate-deltoid, 1-^-2 in. long, l-% in. 

 wide, with a barren glabrous basal portion \ in. long, fertile porticm 

 glabrous, 1-lJ in. long, considerably longer than broad, apex barren, 

 triangular, curved sharply upwards, acute or shortly acutely acumi- 

 nate, J in. long, clothed externally with close brown tomentum, 

 glabrous above. Female blades 9-12 in. long; stalk long, ru.sty- 

 pubescent, with 4-5 pairs of ovules above the middle, passing in- 

 sensibly into the ovate-lanceolate lamina, which is 3-4 in. long, 

 f-lj in. wide, apex acute, margin crenulate or subentire, glabrous 

 on both sides towards apex and margins, elsewhere closely rusty- 

 pubescent. Seeds ovoid-globose, 2-2J in. long, IJ in. wide ; outer 

 coat red (^w/7/fr).— Miq. in Tijdschr. Wis. en Nat. Wetens. ii. 287, 

 Arch. Neerl. iii. 236. Nieuwe Bijdr. Cvcnd. -io, and Adan>()nia, ix. 

 56, 366 ; Lem. 111. Hort. 1864, [4] sub t. 405 : ])(\ Prodr. xvi. ii. 528 ; 

 A. Rr. in Verb. Bot. Ver. Brand, xviii. 1875, Sitzungsb. 15. and in 

 Sitzungsb. Gesellsch. Naturf. Freunde, Berl. 187(), 113; Duehartre 

 in Bull. Soc. Bot. Fr. xxxv. 247 ; Baron in .lourn. Linn. Soc Bot. 

 xxv. 268; Eichler in Engl. & Prantl, Pflan/enfam. ii. i. 21; 

 Warburg, Monsunia, i. 180, 181 ; Drake del Castillo in Madagascar 



