546 LXXVII. PALMiE. [Borassns. 



ments, and Fakirs' drinking-cups. The leaves when young yield a beautiful 

 material for basket and plaited work ; hats, fans, and various other articles 

 are made of them ; when full-grown they are used for partitions and roofs 

 of houses. This Palm is only found on two or three small rocky islands of 

 the Seychelle group north-east of Madagascar. These islands were discovered 

 in 1749, but long before that time the double Cocoa-nut had been known 

 in India, and on the Indian Archipelago, having been washed upon the 

 Maldive Islands by the monsoon, and the tree being unknown, wonderful 

 stories were current regarding the nature and origin of these curiously- 

 shaped nuts. 2. Hyphoene thebaica, Mart. ; Hist. Nat. Palm. t. 131, 132, 133, 

 the Down Palm of Upper Egypt and Nubia, extending west to the Niger near 

 Timbuktu, one of the few species of this Order, the stem of which habitu- 

 ally and normally divides into bifurcating branches, each branch bearing a 

 crown of fan-shaped leaves. The flowers are dioicous ; the fruit is in long 

 hanging clusters, irregularly shaped, surface shining brown, 1 -seeded, with a 

 sweet fibrous mealy rind which has a taste like gingerbread is eaten, and forms 

 an important article of food in some parts of Africa. Rosary-beads are made of 

 the horny albumen. 



2. CHAMJEROPS, Linn. 



Stems densely covered while young with the lower parts of petioles. 

 Base of old stems indistinctly annulate. Leaves fan-shaped, forming 

 a rounded terminal crown ; petioles sheathing, the sheath fibrous, edges 

 of petioles mostly aculeate. Flowers yellow, polygamous, often dioicous, 

 inflorescence a compound panicle on a thick peduncle (spadix), enclosed 

 in bud by a coriaceous oblique sheath. Calyx tripartite, corolla of 3 petals, 

 valvate in bud, petals and calyx-segments often more numerous. Sta- 

 mens 6-9. Carpels 3, distinct. Berries 3, or fewer by abortion. Albu- 

 men horny or cartilaginous ; embryo dorsal. 



1. C.'Martiana, Wall. PI. As. rar. t. 211. Syn. O. Khasyana, Madden, 

 On the occurrence of Palms and Bamboos at considerable elevations in the 

 Himalaya, Trans. Edin. Bot. Soc. iv. 186 (1853). Vern. Jhangra, jhaggar, 

 tal, Kamaon; Taggu, the Newar name in Nepal. 



A tall slender tree, 40-50 ft. high, stunted on dry ground or in other- 

 wise unfavourable localities, with a globose crown of dark shining leaves. 

 Petioles 3 ft. long, the sheathing base consisting of 2 layers, the inner 

 layer, which separates from the outer, being composed of a network of 

 brown tough fibres, crossing each other at oblique angles, forming a close 

 network of rhomboid meshes ; upper part of petiole half-round, woolly, 

 edges slightly denticulate. Blade orbicular, consisting of 30-40 linear 

 segments 15-20 in. long, connate to one-third or one-half their length, 

 emarginate or shortly bifid at the top. Inflorescence a drooping com- 

 pound panicle covered with dark rust-coloured down, with several stout 

 main branches, each in the axil of a large coriaceous sheathing bract. 

 Petals three times longer than calyx, ovate, concave, whitish. Stamens 

 6, filaments subulate, nearly free, longer than anthers. Ovaries and rudi- 

 ment of ovary hairy. Berry 1, oblong, yellow at first, dark glossy blue 

 when ripe. . In Wallich's figure, and Martius' description which accom- 

 panies it, the fruit is yellow, probably because unripe. 



