Andsirophi/Uum.] cxlvii. palm^ (wright). 117 



Jao-wer Guinea. Lower French Congo : Mayombe, Laurent. Lower Congo, 

 Smith. Angola : Golungo Alto ; Trombeta, Welwitsch, 6669 ! 66693 ! 



South Central. Congo Free State : Lunda, Buchner, 687 (ex Drude). 



10. BORASSUS, Linn. ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. PI. iii. 1)39. 



Male flowers small, densely packed in pits on the catkin-like branches 

 of a simply branched interfoliaceous spadix, subtended by scaly bracts. 

 Sepals 3, narrow, free, imbricate. Petals united below into a long 

 stipes, glumaceous, obovate-spathulate, patent, imbricate. Stamens 6 ; 

 filaments very short, subulate; anthers large, oblong, basifixed. Ovaiy 

 represented by 3 set». Female flower much larger than the male, 

 globose. Sepals reniform, imbricate, fleshy. Petals similar to the sepals, 

 but smaller. Staminodes 6-9 inserted at the base of the petals. Ovary 

 3-celled, entire or tripartite ; stigmas sessile, recurved ; ovule basal, 

 erect. Fruit large, subglobose, enclosing 3 pyrenes ; pericarp thinly 

 fleshy ; pyrenes obcordate, densely fibrous outside. Seed with its testa 

 adhering to the endocarp ; albumen homogeneous, horny, hollow; 

 embryo near the apex of the seed. — Tall, unarmed palm.. Stem robust, 

 annulate, thickened at or above the middle, sometimes branched at the 

 apex. Leaves in a terminal crown, large, flabellate ; segments in- 

 duplicate, bifid, margins smooth ; ligule short, rigid ; petiole spiny ; 

 sheath short. Spadices large ; spathes at the base of the branches, 

 incomplete ; male branches densely covered with multiseriate densely 

 imbricate bracts ; female branches thick, rather tortuose, fewer-flo^-ered 

 than the male. Flowers dicecious. Fruit brown. 



Species 1 in Tropical Africa, extensively cultivated in Iiidin, and probably wild in 

 the regions around the mouth of the Indus. 



1. B. flabellifer, var. sethifopiim, Warburg in Enyl.Pji. Ost-Afr. 

 B. 20, C. 130. Stem 60-70 ft. high, thicker above the middle, the 

 younger part clothed with the persistent bases of old leaves. Leavts 

 flabellate, broader than long, divided to the middle, b-l2 ft. long; seg- 

 ments lanceolate-ensiform ; petiole straight, slightly sheathing at the 

 base, concave above, convex below, spiny on the margins ; sheath break- 

 ing up into filaments. Male inflorescence : Spadix 3-6 ft. long, simply 

 branched; peduncle slightly compressed; branches subterete, bearing 

 at their apex 2-3 sessile cylindrical catkins 12 in. by 2 in.; spathes 

 solitary at the base of and as long as each branch ; bracts imbricate, 

 2 lin. long. Calyx tubular; lobes 3, oblong, obtuse, erect. Cor«jlla- 

 tube as long as the calyx ; lobes 3, oblong, obtuse, concave, patent, 

 yellowish-green. Stamens 6, patent; filaments subulate. Female in- 

 florescence: Spadix simple, -1-8 ft. long, nodding; spathes 6-12, 

 arranged as in the male. Sepals reniform, imbricate, concave. Petals 

 half as long as the sepals, gibbous, shining. Staminodes 6, rudimentary. 

 Drupe ovoid, obtuse, obscurely trigonous, smooth, coriaceous, orange- 

 coloured ; epicarp containing fibres. Seeds 3, ovoid, compressed. — 

 Drude in Engl. Jahrb. xxi. 110 ; Dammer in Engl. Jahrb. xxviii. y^^K). 

 B. Jlabelliforrnis, Murr. Syst. ed. 13, 827; Schumach. ct Thonn. Beskr. 



VOL. VIII. E 



