Hyphcene.'] cxLVii. palm.b (wright). 121 



leaves. Leaves roundish ovate, broader than long, plicate, divided to 

 the middle into ensiform replicate segments, subpinnately palmate, 

 2-6 ft. long ; petiole as long as the lamina, slightly concave above, con- 

 vex below, spiny on the margins, widened and having a fibrous network 

 on either side at the base. Male inflorescence ; Spadix simply branched, 

 2-5 ft. long ; peduDcie slightly compressed ; branches alternate, woolly, 

 acute at the margins, bearing near their apices 2-3 sessile cylindrical cat- 

 kins 1 ft. long and 1 in. thick, clothed with numerous imbricate adpressed 

 bracts 1 lin. long and 6 lin. broad. Flowers in (5-8 rows, 2-3 enclosed in 

 each scale. Calyx trigonous ; lobes 3, oblong, obtuse, erect, concealed 

 by the bracts. Corolla-tube as long as the calyx ; lobes 3, exserted, 

 rotate, oblong, obtuse, concave, subcartilaginous, green. Stamens (i, 

 inserted in the corolla-tube, patent ; filaments subulate, a little shorter 

 than the corolla ; anthers oblong. Rudiment of ovary none. Female 

 inflorescence similar to the male. Fruit shortly turbinate, very obtuse, 

 obscurely trigonous, shining ; epicarp chartaceous, thin ; mesocarp 

 fibrous, rather sweet ; endocarp hard, with an apical pore. Seed carti- 

 laginous, hollow in the centre. — Drude in Engl. Jahrb. xxi. 110; 

 Durand & Schinz, Conspect. Fl. Afr. v. 4G1, and Etudes Fl, Congo, i. 

 274 ; Giissfeldt & Pechuel-Loesche, Die Loango-Exped. i. t. 1 ; Rendle 

 in Cat. Afr. PI. Welw. ii. 83. 



XiO^irer Guinea. Estuary of the Congo: Isle of Mateba, Dwpont. Loiingo, 

 ex Drude. Angola : plentiful on dry or sandy hills, especitilly between Barra do 

 Bengo and Barro do Dande, Welwitseh, 6662 ! Ambiiz ; maritime hills near Quizembo, 

 Wehoitsch, QQQ%\ along long tracts of coast from Dande and Lifune as far as the 

 mouth of the River Cunnza, Weltvitsch, 6670 ! Loimda ; on the coast between 

 Ambriz and Loanda, Weltvitsch, fruit 1052 ! Guinea, without exact locality, Thonning. 



Native name, Songu-Tjo, ex Schumacher Sf Thonning. 



5. H. crinita, Gcertn. Fruct. ii. 13, t. 82, fig. 4. Stem 20-30 ft. 

 high, more or less flexuose or erect, undivided. Leaves large, with 

 fibres between the lobes, covered on both surfaces with very fugacious 

 white tomentum, scabrous on the margins and upper sides of the nerves ; 

 ligule large and nearly equilateral; petiole sheathing at the base, spiny 

 on the margin, deeply channelled above. Fruit oblong or obovate, 

 depressed, smooth ; pericarp containing numerous fibres shorter than 

 the thick subglobose putamen. Seed attached below its centre. — Mart. 

 Palm. iii. 227 ; Kirk in Journ. Linn. Soc. ix. 23o ; Wendl. in Bot. Zeit. 

 1881, 92; Engl. Pfl. Ost-Afr. C. 130 ; Drude in Engl. Jahrb. xxi. 110, 

 122 ; C. H. Wright in Dyer, Fl. Cap. vii. 30. H. natalenms, G. Kunze 

 in LinnsRa, xx. 15; Gard. Chron. 1890, viii. 381. H. petersiaiia, 

 Klotzsch ex Mart. Palm. iii. 227. 



Mozamb. Blst. German East Africa : Usambara ; by the Kiver Pangani in 

 Mauia district, Stuhlmann, 24 (ex Drude). Portuguese East Africa and British 

 Central Africa: "200 miles up the Zambesi it is common, also at the south end of 

 Nyasa, and on the River Shire," ex Kirk. Mozambique and Sofala, ex Drude. 



Also in Natal and Madagascar. 



6. H. Goetzeiy Dammer in Engl. Jahrh. xxviii. 354. A tree 

 50-65 ft. high. Stem simple. Leaves about 3 ft. by 4 J ft. ; petiole 



