406 CLXIII. PALME/E. (Beccari & Hook, f.) [Areca. 



confluent, quite glabrous. Spathe glabrous, compressed. Spadix much branched, 

 rachis stout compressed, branches with filiform tips bearing more or less distichous 

 minute male fl. Fern. fl. solitary at the bases and axils of the branches ; sepals 

 in., ovate, obtuse; petals subsimilar; staminodes 6, connate. Fruit 1^-2 in., 

 smooth, orange or scarlet. Betel nut. 



2. A. concinna, Thw. Enum. 328 ; hexandrous, trunk short slender, 

 fruit subfusiform. 



CEYLON, Reigam and Pasdoon Corles, Thwaites. 



Trunk 8-12 ft., 1^-lf in. diam., green. Leaves about 7, 3-3 \ ft. long, sub- 

 glabrous, leaflets 2 ft. long. Spadix and flowers as in A. Catechu. Fruit 1 i n - 

 long, umbonate, reddish yellow. 



3. A. nag ensis, Griff, in Gale. Journ. Nat. Hist. v. 156 ; Palms Brit. 

 Ind. 149 ; triandrous, trunk tall, fruit narrowly ovoid. 



ASSAM, in the Naga hills, Jenkins. 



Trunk 30-40 ft. Leaves 7 ft. ; leaflets 19-20 in. Spadix 1 ft., branches stout, 

 flexuose. Fruit 1 in., narrowed at both ends. Description from Griffith, who 

 states that the leaves were imperfect and open to doubt from their resemblance to 

 A. ijracilis (Pinanga grokcilif). 



4. A. triandra, Roxb. Sort. Beng. 68; Fl. Ind. iii. 617; triandrous, 

 stems tufted slender, fruit ellipsoid. Ham. in Mem. Wern. Soc. v. 310; 

 Mart. Hist. Nat. Palm. t. 149; Griff, in Gale. Journ. Nat. Hist v. 154; 

 Palms Brit. Ind. 148, t 230 A. ; Kurz For. Fl. ii. 537. 



CHITTAGONG, MARTABAN, TENASSERIM, the ANDAMAN ISLANDS, and the 

 MALAYAN PENINSULA. 



Stems 12-25 ft. by l-l-j i n - diam., green, sending out basal offshoots. Leaves 

 4-6 ft.; petiole slender; leaflets l|-3 ft., lateral sometimes as well as the terminal 

 confluent. Spatfie 1 foot or more. Spadix and flowers as in A. Catechu, but 

 triandrous. Fruit the size of an olive, orange-col rd., at length scarlet, tip truncate. 



2. PXNANGA, Blume. 



Stem erect, annulate. Leaves pinnate with the upper leaflets con- 

 fluent. Spadices infrafoliar, androgynous ; spathe solitary ; flowers 3 

 together (a fern, between 2 males) clusters in 2-i or 6 series. MALE FL. 

 obliquely triquetrous ; sepals acute, keeled, not imbricate ; petals ovate or 

 lanceolate, valvate ; stamens 6 or more, anthers subsessile, basifixed, erect. 

 FEM. FL. much smaller, ovoid or globose ; sepals and petals orbicular, 

 broadly imbricate ; ovary 1-celled, stigmas 3; ovule basilar erect. Fruit 

 ovoid or ellipsoid, pericarp fibrous. Albumen ruminate ; embryo basilar. 

 Species about 24, tropical Asiatic and Malayan. 



A. SPIKANTHE^E, Becc. Flowers in 3 or more spiral series on the spadix 

 or its branches. 



1. P. hexasticha, Scheff. in Ann. Jard. Bot. Buitenz. i. 148 ; stems 

 slender gregarious, leaves pinnate, petiole scaly, spadix simple reflexed, 

 male fl. in 5-6 series, fruit fusiform. Kurz For. Fl. ii. 539 ; Becc. in Ann. 

 Jard. Bot. Buitenz. ii. 80, 86 ; Males, iii. 122. Areca hexasticha, Kurz in 

 Journ. As. Soc. Beng. xliii. ii. 201, t. 12. 



PEGU ; in marshy forests, Kurz. 



Stems 25-30 ft. by 1$ in. diam. Leaves 3-5 ft., sheaths aud short petiole scaly ; 

 le.iflats 1-li ft., many, narrow, linear, subfalc ite, 2-3-ribbed, lower acuminate, 



