140 BOTANY OF CONGO. 



exactly the habit of Riviiia octandra, and all of which agree 

 with that plant, as well as Avith several others belonging to 

 the order, in the very minute pellucid dots of their 

 leaves. 



Pctivcria and Seguicria may therefore form a sub-division 

 of Phytolacege And another section of this order exists in 

 New Holland, of which tlie two genera differ from each 

 other in number of stamina as remarkably as Petiveria and 

 Seo-uieria. 



o 



Of the jMonocotyledonous orders, the first on which I 

 have any remarks to offer, is that of 



PALM^. The collection, however, contains no satis- 

 factory specimens of any plant of this family except of 

 FAceis r/Hweensis, the Maba of the natives, or Oil Palm, 

 which appears to be common along the whole of this line 

 of coast. In Professor Smith's journal it is stated that a 

 single plant of the jNIaba Palm^ was cut down, from which 

 ]\lr. Lockhart informs me that both the male and female 

 spadices preserved in the collection were obtained. Tliis 

 fact seems to decide that Elseis is monoecious, which, in- 

 45C] deed, Jacquin, by whom the genus was estabhshed, 

 concluded it to be, though from less satisfactory evidence." 

 It was first described as dioecious by Ggertner, whose ac- 

 count has been adopted, probably without examination, by 

 Schreber, Willdenow, and Persoon. 



In Sir Joseph Banks's collection, however, from which 

 Gsertner received the fruits he has described and figured, 

 and where he may be supposed to have likewise obtained 

 all the original information he had on the subject, there is 

 no proof of the male and female spadices of Elseis guineensis 

 l)elonG;ino: to different individnals. 



Gaertner has fallen into a still more important mistake 

 respecting the structure of the fruit of Elseis, the foramina 

 of whose putamen, which are analogous to those of the 



^ Maba is, perhaps, rather applied to the fruit than to the tree: Emha 

 being, according to Mcrolla, tlie name of the single nut, and Cachio tliafc of the 

 entire cluster: for tlie Palm itself, he lias no name. Vide Picccwdo BeJaz. 

 p. 122. 



= Hist. SCn-p, Am-r.p. 281. 



