822 XXVI. PANDANE^. 



anthers adnate, extrorse, sub-didyrnous. FLOWERS- ? : PERIANTH 0. PISTIL com- 

 posed of 3 distinct carpels, obliquely truncate, angular, with scales at the base ; 

 stigmas 3, sessile, excentric, marked with a lateral slit ; [ovule ascending, solitary, 

 anatropous]. DRUPES of a chesnut brown, forming by their aggregation a volumi- 

 nous capitulum, turbinate, angular, 1-seeded ; sarcocarp thick, dry, fibrous ; endocarp 

 fibrous- woody, perforated at the base. SEED furrowed longitudinally by a projection 

 of the kernel ; albumen homogeneous, cartilaginous, hollow in the centre. EMBRYO 



basilar. 



ONLY GENUS. 



Nipa. 



Nipa, like Phytelephasleee, is near Pandanea, Cyclanthece and Palms. The only species nhabits the 

 swampy estuaries of the large rivers of India and the Moluccas. 



The seed germinates within the fruit, which falls into the sea, by which it is carried away ; but it 

 only detaches from the spadix after several years, when the germination of the seed is so far advanced 

 that the salt water cannot hurt the embryo. The seeds are edible before they are quite ripe, their in- 

 sipidity being corrected by sugar. The inhabitants of the Philippines and of Cochin China obtain from 

 the spadix a juice which yields by fermentation a spirituous liquor and acetic acid. The fronds are used 

 for covering huts in the Indian Archipelago ; hats and cigar-cases are also made of them. [The fruits of 

 Nipa abound in the Eocene formations at the mouth of the Thames.] 



XXVI. PANDANE^E, Br. 



Frutescent or arborescent PLANTS. STEM simple or branched, ringed, supported 

 on strong adventitious roots ; branches leafy at the extremity. LEAVES imbricate in 

 3 rows, in very close spirals, linear-lanceolate, amplexicaul, edges often spinous. 

 FLOWERS dioecious, achlamydeous, completely covering simple or branched spadices, 

 accompanied by herbaceous or coloured caducous spathes. FLOWERS $ : SPADIX 

 branched, thyrsoid, in tufts or large catkins. STAMENS numerous, very dense ; fila- 

 ments filiform, isolated or in bundles ; anthers 2-celled, dehiscence longitudinal. 

 FLOWERS ? : SPADIX simple. OVARIES numerous, 1-celled, coherent in bundles, or 

 rarely isolated ; stigmas sessile, distinct ; ovule solitary, anatropous, adnate to a 

 parietal placenta (Pandanus) ; or ovules 3, orthotropous (?), inserted at the base of 

 the cell (Souleyetia). FRUIT formed of fibrous drupes united in closely cohering 

 groups ; endocarp bony. SEED ovoid ; testa membranous ; raphe filiform, scarcely pro- 

 jecting, chalaza very conspicuous, reaching the top of the cell ; albumen fleshy, dense. 

 EMBRYO straight, basilar ; radicle directed towards the bottom of the cell. 



PRINCIPAL GENERA. 

 Pandanus. Souleyetia. Ileterostigma. 



JVijH/flwed?, properly so called, which are joined by several botanists to Freycinetiea, Cyclanthea, 

 Phytelephasiece and Ntpaoc*. form with these small families and with Typhacece a group approaching 

 Palms and Aroids. Nipacca, Phytelephasiete, Cyclanthea and Freycinetie<e resemble Palms in habit. 

 pandanca; inhabit the shores [and interior] of Asia, Arabia Felix, the large islands of the Pacific Ocean? 

 Madagascar, West Africa, North Australia, &c. [The number of species in Mauritius, where they are 



