THE PALMS OF BRITISH INDIA AND CEYLON. 367 



Names. — Desert Palm ; Fan Palm ; Palm Canon. 



The name ' Desert Palm ' had been given to the tree actually- 

 growing in the Colorado Desert of California, whilst the name of 

 Washingtonia filifera was given to specimens growing in European 

 gardens, which were supposed to have been imported from the same 

 locality in California. Though, therefore, the scientific name of 

 the Colorado plant has been changed, the popular name must, 

 nevertheless, be retained. 



Description. — Trunk stout, enlarged at the base, 60-90 feet 

 high. Petioles stout and until old erect, 3^-5 feet long, 4-5 inches 

 broad at the dark-brown base, and half as wide at the blade ; 

 the upper surface concave, its thin, light-brown margins corneous 

 and armed for their entire length with stout hooked spines, 

 acuminately prolonged into the blade ; ligule papyraceous, acumi- 

 nate, lacerate, f -2 inches long ; blades 3^-5 feet in diameter, the 

 60-70 folds deciduously tomentulose on the lower edges, cleft 

 two-thirds to the base, the margin of the divisions abundantly 

 filiferous. 



Spadices very large, longer than the leaves, nutant with 5-6 

 large pendent partial inflorescences, each bearing 2-5 separated 

 thyrses, which are exceeded by their ligulate, chartaceus, 

 spathoid bracts ; flowering branchlets usually 3|-4 inches long, 

 2^ inch in diameter, sinuose, glabrous, angular with the solitary 

 flowers not very regularly inserted. Flowers, when in bud, 

 ^j inch long, ^^ inch broad. Calyx campanulate, truncate at 

 the base, divided halfway down into 3 lobes, lobes more or 

 less ovate, very irregularly ciliate-laciniate on the margin. Corolla 

 much longer than the calyx, divided down to the lower fourth 

 into 3 segments ; petals lanceolate, acuminate-subulate, rather 

 strongly calloso-glandular at the base. Stamens biseriate, but of 

 equal length, as long as the petals, the three opposite the petals 

 with the filaments very stout and subulate at the apex, tuberculate- 

 ly enlarged at the coherent base and abruptly subulate above ; 

 the other three stamens terete ; anthers large, \ inch long, 

 narrowly linear-sagitlate, apparently acute or apiculate but in 

 reality bifid at the apex for almost ^ of their total length. 

 Ovary turbinate at summit, truncato — rotundate, but neither 

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