112 cxLvii. PALM^ (weight). [Eremospatha. 



urceolate ; lobes 3 short, acute, valvate. Stamens 6, perigynous ; fila- 

 ments short, broad, connate ; anthers cordate, fixed near the base at 

 the back, Ovary 3-celled ; stigmas 3, Ungulate ; ovule subbasal. 

 Fruit baccate, 1- (rarely 2-3-) seeded; scales thin, fragile; endocarp 

 membranous. Seed peltate, slightly rugose ; hilum linear ; raphe linear^ 

 its branches radiating from the hilum ; albumen homogeneous ; embryo 

 ventral. — Climbing palms. Stems long, slender, ringed. Leaves 

 equally pinnate, subsessile ; leaflets alternate and opposite ; rhachis 

 bearing weak spines, produced at the apex into a long cirrhus bearing 

 opposite decurved spines (reduced leaflets). Spadices short ; peduncle 

 and branches compressed, distichous, thick, patent ; spathes none ; 

 bracts minute. 



Species 3, endemic. 



Leaflets elliptic-obovate . . . . . . 1. ^. HooTceri. 



Lepflets long lanceolate. 



Fruit scales in 18 rows. Leaflets acuminate . . 2. JE. ctispidata. 



Fruit scales in 24 rows. Leaflets acute . . . 3. i". macrocarpa. 



1. E. Hookeri, Wendl. in Kerchove, Palm. 244. Stem 6 lin. thick. 

 Leaves 4-5 ft. long ; sheath tubular, glabrous, produced at the apex 

 into an obliquely truncate ochrea 6-9 lin. long ; rhachis 6 lin. thick at 

 the base, prolonged at the apex into a cirrhus unarmed except for the 

 recurved spines representing reduced leaflets; leaflets 12-14 on each 

 side, the basal ones rather closer together than the upper, elliptic- 

 obovate, 6-7 in. by 2-2 J in., flat, thin ; central nerve and 5 secondary 

 nerves rather prominent on both surfaces ; upper margin slightly 

 repand-crenate, lower furnished with a few spines 2 lin. long. Spadix 

 long peduncled, lJ-2 ft. long; rhachis slightly compressed, simply and 

 distichously branched ; branches 14-22, patent ; bracts transversely- 

 oblong, acuminate. Fruit ovoid-cylindric, 10-12 lin. long, 8-9 lin. 

 in. diam., 1- (rarely 2-) seeded, with 20 row^s of rhomboid scales. Seed 

 peltate, 9 lin. long, 6 lin. wide, 3 lin. thick. — Drude in Engl. Jahrb. 

 xxi. 111. Calamus (Eremospatha) ffookeri, Mann &, Wendl. in Trans. 

 Linn. Soc. xxiv. 434, t. 41, fig. 0. 



Upper Guinea. Niger Delta : at the mouth of the River Nun (Niger), Mann, 

 451 ! West Tropical Africa : without exact locality, Kalbreyer, 65! Cameroons : 

 Barombi, Preuss, 460, and on the banks of the river near Ndian Factory, Dusen (ex 

 Drude). 



Soutb Central. Congo Free State : Monbuttu ; by Kambele River, Schicein- 

 furthy 3671 (ex Drude). 



2. E. cuspidata, Wendl. in Kerchove, Palm. 244. Stem 1 in. 

 thick. Leaves 6-7 ft. long ; sheath tubular, smooth, about 1 foot long, 

 produced at the apex into an obliquely truncate ochrea 1 in. long ; 

 rhachis 6 lin. thick at the base, produced at the apex into a long 

 cirrhus bearing sigmoid subulate triquetrous recurved spines, with 1-2 

 uncinate spines between each pair of leaflets ; leaflets 25-27 on each 

 side, basal rather nearer together than the upper, opposite or alternate, 

 8-9 in. by 10-12 lin. long, lanceolate, acuminate into a point 1-2 in. 

 long, chartaceous, glabrous on both surfaces, with more numerous and 



