Wallichia.] LXXVII. PALM^E. 551 



large quantities of Sago, and the cut flower-stalks yield a sugary sap, of which 

 sugar and palm wine is made. Malay Peninsula, Indian Archipelago. Said to 

 grow on the hills of Orissa, Hook. & Thomson Fl. Ind. ] 42. 



To another subdivision of the same tribe (Arecinece) belongs the Areca Palm 

 Sans. Guvaka : Vern. Supari : Areca Catechu, Linn. Koxb. Cor. PI. t. 75 ; Fl. 

 Ind. iii. 615 ; the Betel Palm a tall slender annulate stem, attaining 80 ft. and 

 more, with a diam. of only 12-1 5 in. Leaves pinnatifid, petiole on a long smooth 

 green sheath, pinnse linear - oblong, with a broad base and numerous par- 

 allel basal nerves, several of which are more prominent. Flowers monoicous, 

 male and female on the same inflorescence. Peduncle thick fleshy, erect, from 

 lateral buds below the lowest leaf, branching, the branches bearing solitary 

 female flowers and numerous slender spikes, thickly set with fragrant male 

 flowers. Stamens 6, on short broad filaments, surrounding a rudimentary 

 ovary. Sepals and petals of female flowers imbricate, ovary 3-celled, surrounded 

 by 6 sterile stamens. Fruit orange-coloured, ovoid, 2-2^ in. long, supported by 

 the persistent coriaceous calyx and corolla. Pericarp fibrous, 1-celled. Seed 

 depressed-conical, obtuse, 1 in. diam. or less ; albumen horny, ruminated with 

 numerous dark-brown or black curly radial lines ; embryo basal. Cultivated 

 throughout the Indian Archipelago, in Ceylon, the west side of India, below 

 and above Ghat, in Burma, Siam, Cochin-China, Bengal, Silhet. Believed to 

 be originally a native of the Sunda islands. The use of the seed for chewing 

 with lime and the leaves of Piper Betel in India, the countries of the trans- 

 Gangetic Peninsula, the Indian Archipelago and China, is well known. The 

 finest groves of the Betel Palm which I have seen are in British Burma, on 

 the hills between the Sitang and Salween rivers, and in the valleys drained by 

 the feeders of the Yoonzaleen and Beeling rivers, and the Thoukyeghat and 

 other tributaries of the Sitang. In the valleys of these hills are flourishing 

 Betel Palm gardens to an elevation of nearly 3000 ft. Large quantities of Betel- 

 nuts are brought down these rivers, and exported from Bangoon and Moulmein, 

 and a grove of these Palms is a small fortune. For a new plantation the ground 

 is trenched and prepared with the greatest care ; long irrigation channels, winding 

 along the sinuosities of the hills, bring the needful water to the spot ; and the 

 result is seen in large compact groves, which in dells and sheltered places some- 

 times attain an average ^height of 80 ft., or even more. Examples of flourish- 

 ing Betel Palm groves in a comparatively dry climate are the plantations on the 

 plateau of Mysore, below the great tanks, and irrigated by them. In Mysore, 

 Canara, and Malabar, as in Burma, a fresh plantation is always made under 

 the shelter of Plantains. In western India the Betel Palm is generally planted 

 along with the Cocoa-nut, and often with Cardamoms. The soft but tough 

 sheaths of the leaves are used in Burma and in western India to wrap up eatables, 

 tobacco, and other articles ; also as paper to write upon. Necklaces, the tops of 

 walking-sticks, and other small objects, are turned of the seeds. 



Geroxylon andicola, Humboldt and Bonpland, PI. iEquinoct. i. t. 1, also 

 classed among Arecinea?, a tall elegant Palm with whitish stem, attaining 190 

 ft., is remarkable, because, like Chamwrops Martiana, it grows at high eleva- 

 tions. Humboldt first discovered it at the foot of the snow-clad volcano of Tol- 

 ima, on the Parama di Quindiu, the high pass which leads across the central 

 Cordillera, from the Magdalena to the Cauca river. It has since been found by 

 other travellers, particularly by Albert Berg, who has represented it towering 

 over the forests of Oak and Podocarpus, in plates 5 and 6 of his admirable 

 work, ' Tropical Vegetation of South America,' London, 1854. At an elevation 

 between 6500 and 9700 ft. N.L. 4 35", it grows in abundance, associated with 

 another alpine Palm, Oreodoxa frigida, Humb. et Kunth. The trunk is an- 



