120 cxLVii. PALM^ (weight). \Hyphmne. 



cylindrical, oblique, acute; bracteoles widely cochleariform, truncate, 

 bearded at the sides. Calyx 3-partite, pilose outside the base; lobes 

 ovate, fleshy, 2 lin. long. Corolla 3-partite; lobes long, oval, mem- 

 branous, \\ lin. long. Staminodes none. Ovary conical ; stigmas 3, 

 sessile. Fruit pedicellate, long pyriform, obtusely keeled, 5 lin. long, 

 oblique at the base. Seed with bony albumen ; embryo cylindrical, 

 near the apex of the seed. 



n^ozamb. S^ist. German East Africa : Khutu ; in the Kisaki Steppe, by the 

 Rufiji Kiver, 820 ft., Qoetze, 69. 



Native name, Mkase. 



3. M. thebaica. Mart. Palm. iii. 225, it. 131-133. Stem terete, 

 10-30 ft. high, about 1 ft. in diam., simple or more frequently dichoto- 

 mously branched. Leaves 20-30 in a terminal crown on each branch ; 

 petiole sheathing at the base, triangular below, plano-convex upwards, 

 spiny on the margins, with rusty tomentum ; lamina suborbicular ; lobes 

 20 or more, linear-lanceolate, acuminate, 1 J ft. long, 1 in. wide ; primary 

 nerves thick, concave above, secondary numerous. Male spadix 4 ft. 

 long, 1-2 in. thick at the base, at first erect, afterwards patent ; spathes 

 nearly cylindrical ; flower-bearing branches 6-10 in. long, 3-2 at the 

 end of branches 3-4 in. long ; bracteoles \ lin. long ; flowers in pairs, 

 shortly pedicellate. Calyx 3-lobed, contracted below. Corolla stipitate; 

 lobes widely ovate, obtuse, concave. Stamens 6, rarely 7 ; filaments 

 subulate from a thickened base ; anthers linear, slightly sagittate, 

 nearly basifixed. Rudiment of ovary absent. Female spadix like the 

 male ; bracteoles densely imbricate, with a transverse line of tomentum 

 half-way up the back ; flowers very shortly pedicellate. Calyx-lobes 

 orbicular- ovate, light green. Petals smaller than the sepals, orbicular- 

 ovate, concave. Staminodes G. Ovary globose or 3-lobed; stigmas 

 sessile or nearly so. Fruit of 1 (rarely 2-3) obliquely-ovoid carpel, 3 in. 

 long, 2J in. in diam. Seed ovoid.— -Mart, in Miinch. gel. Anzeig. 1838, 

 639, and 1839, 51 ; Grant in Trans. Linn. Soc. xxix. 187 ; Speke, Nile, 

 Append. 651 ; Penzigin Atti Congr. Bot. Genova, 1892, 363 ; Schweinf. 

 Beitr. Fl. Aethiop. 193, 291, and in Bull. Herb. Boiss. ii. App. ii. 52. 

 Cucifera thebaica, Del. Fl. Egypte, 1, tt. 1-2. 



Upper Cruinea. Gambia : on the banks of the River Gambia, Whitfield ! 

 Bornu, ex Drude, 



Xfiie Ijaud. Nubia : near Alt Dongola, Ehrenberg (ex Schweinfurth). Eritrea r 

 Arkikoand MonkuUo, near Massowa, and in the valley of the River Barca, ex Penzig, 

 Kordofan, Sennar, Abyssinia and Bahr-el-Abiad (White Nile), ex Schweinfurth^ 

 White Nile, Flower ! Speke Sf Grant. Somaliland : Schebeli, Donaldson Smith, 1 ! 

 British East Africa : Lamo (Lamu Island), Kirk, 1 ! 



Also found in extra-tropical Egypt and Arabia. 



Native names : at Berber "Mohamma," at Tigre " Ssehhelib." "At Berber the 

 leaves are made into coarse rope, and the trunks into beams and posts" (Speke S^ 

 Grant). Although this species is frequently mentioned by travellers as the Doum or 

 Dum palm, it is very poorly represented in British herbaria. 



4. H. gmneensis, Schumach. d- Thonn. Beskr. Guin. PI. 445. 

 Stem tall, cylindrical, the younger part armed with the bases of old 



