118 CXLVIJ. PALM^ (weight). [Bo7'a8SU8. 



Guin. PL 443 ; R. Br. Vermischte Schriften, i. 269 ; Kirk in Journ. 

 Linn. Soc. ix. 232. B. oithiopum, Mart, in Miinch. gel. Anzeig. 1838, 

 639, and 1839, 46, and Palm. iii. 220; Hook. Niger Fl. 526; Speke, 

 Nile, Append. 651 ; Mann & Wendl. in Trans. Linn. Soc. xxiv. 439 ; 

 Henriques in Bolet. Soc. Bot. v. 206 ; J. Braun in Mitth. Deutsch. 

 Schutzgeb. ii. (1889), 147. 



Upper Guinea. Senegal, Bonn. Senegauibia, Bi-unner ! Gorea (Goree), 

 Dollinger. Gambia, Adanson. Gold Coast: River Volta, Isert j Accra, Hort. 

 Sander. ! Ashanti, Thomiing, Afzelius. Benin, ex Martius. Niger Territory : 

 Nupe, Barter, 792 ! Isolated on the coHst, Mann. Cameroons, ex Braun. 



Wile Xiand. British East Africa : " Very few about the equator, plentiful in 

 the Shiluk country " (bordering the White Nile), ex Speke Sf Qrant, 71. 



South CentraS. Congo Free State : Kasai River, Buchner (ex Drude). 



]Lower Guinea. Island of St. Thomas, ex Henriques. Lower Congo, Naum, 

 Laurent. Congo, ex Brown. 



lUCozamb. XMst. German East Africa : in the Unyamwezi district, ex 5jpeAre 

 ^ Grant. Makutu Steppe, between Khutu and Uhehe districts, Goetze ; Khutu ; 

 Kisaki Steppe, amongst hills not far from Msoro (River) and Msengere, Goetze. 



Native names. Vjye-Tjo, ex Schumacher Sf Thonning. Deleb Palm, M'vooma. In 

 Unyamwezi district the young ones are called "Meelalla," and the leaves furnish 

 thatch, rope, sieves, fences, firewood, and flageolet reeds, the roots are boiled and 

 eaten in times of famine, and a sweet insipid toddy is extracted, whilst on the Nile 

 the leaves Jire made into strong white baskets and mats for markets, according to 

 Speke Sc Grant. 



Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. PL iii. 940. 



Male flowers : Sepals linear-oblong, imbricate, connate at the base. 

 Petals broadly ovate, obtuse, concave, imbricate, connate at the base 

 into a short stalk. Stamens 6 ; filaments short, subulate ; anthers 

 linear, inserted at the bifid base. Rudiment of ovary none. Female 

 flowers larger than the male, very shortly pedicellate. Sepals 3, ovate- 

 orbicular, obtuse, imbricate. Petals a little smaller than the sepals, 

 broadly ovate, obtuse, imbricate. Staminodes 3, connate into a mem- 

 branous ring. Ovary subglobose, obscurely 3-lobed, 3-celled ; stigmas 3, 

 minute, sessile, terminal, at length excentric ; ovule attached by abroad 

 base to the side of the cell. Fruit sessile or stalked, terete or obscurely 

 lobed, often flat or intruded at the base and apex, 1-celled ; stigma 

 basal; pericarp fibrous, with a shining epidermis; endocarp woody, 

 fleshy inside. Seed adnate to the endocarp, erect, ovoid or obovoid, 

 intruded at the base; testa very hard, fuscous; raphe reticulately 

 branched; albumen homogeneous, hollow; embryo apical. — Unarmed 

 except for the opines on the petioles. Stem cylindrical or ventricose, 

 simple or dichotomously branched. Leaves in a terminal crown, 

 orbicular or flabellate ; segments ensiform ; petiole concavo-convex, 

 plano-convex or more rarely bi-convex; sheath short, open ; ligule oblique 

 or equilateral. Spathes cylindrical, incomplete; spadices dioecious, 

 male and female similar; spadix-branches alternate; flower-bearing 



