PALMS OF INDIA AND CEYLON. 69 



linear-lanceolate, somewhat falcate, pi'oniinently and strongly 2-3 

 ribbed above, the lower ones long-acuminate, the upper and 

 terminal ones terminating in as many bluntish 2-lobed lobes ; 

 petiole variable in length, subscurfy. 



Spadix 1 foot long, refracted, shortlj^ peduncled, robust, simply 

 branched, glabrous ; branches elongate. Flowers sessile, distichous, 

 either all females in the same spadix, or each female accompanied 

 by 2 males. Female flowers : sepals and petals almost conform, 

 nearly 1-|- line long, broadlj^ ovate or orbicular, blunt or obsoletely 

 niucronulate. 



Fruit nearly \ inch long, seated on the cup-shaped perianth 

 obovoid to ellipsoid, smooth, thin fleshy-fibrous ; seed adherent to 

 the pericarp, albumen deeply ruminate. 



Habitat. — South Andaman Islands — Sumatra ; Java, 



Fruit ripens in June, 



Illustration, — We have to thank Mr. Macmillan for the 

 photograph reproduced on plate LXXX. It represents a tuft of 

 Pinanga Jcuhlii, the stems being covered with lichens. 



PINANGA DICKSONII, Bl. Rumph. II, 85 ; Scheff. in Natuurk. Tijdsch. 

 Ned. Ind. 174 ; in Ann. Jard. Bot. Buitenz. I., 149 ; Becc. Males III, 138 ; 

 Hook. Fl. Brit. Ind. VI, 409 : Brandis Ind. Trees 647 ; Taib. Trees Bomb, 

 ed. 2, p. 339 ; Cooke Fl. Bomb. Presid. II, 803. — Areca dicksonii, Roxb. Fl, 

 Ind. Ill, 616 ; Griff, in fourn. As. Soc. Beng. V, 458 ; Palms Brit. Ind. 153 t. 

 231. — SeafortUa dicksonii, Mart. Hist. Nat. Palm 111, 184, 313 ; Kimth 

 Enum. Ill, 190. 



Description. — A slender, smooth, green-stemmed palm, stem 

 solitary, tall, 16-20 feet high, of about 2 inches in diameter, soboli- 

 ferous. Leaves pinnate, forked, about 4 feet long ; leaflets numerous, 

 sessile, elongate, 12-24 inches long and |-1 inch broad, with 

 numeroiis parallel veins, apices prEemorse, dentate. 



Spadix retro fracted, compound ; ramifications from 4-8, alter- 

 nate, simple, equal, distichous, from G-8 inches long, stout, clothed 

 with imbricating flowers. Spathe simple, rigid, compressed. Male 

 flowers : Calyx o-cleft, divisions subulate, nearly as long as the 

 corolla ; petals 3, ovate, cordate, valvate, tapering at the tips. 

 Stamens from 20-30 ; filaments very short ; anthers linear ; 

 pistillode 0. Female flowers : spathes 3, reniform, corolla like the 

 calyx ; staminodes 6, clavate, penicillate, style short ; stigma 3- 

 lobed. 



Berry oblong, dry, fibrous, -^-f in. long by ^ in. in diameter. 

 Seed of the shape of the berry, ruminated. Embryo basilar. 



Habitat. — Found in great abundance on the mountains of 

 Travancore and Malabar ; in the evergreen forests near the Gair- 

 soppa and Nilkund Ghats of Northern Kanara, gregarious and 

 locally abundant. Flowers and fruit ripens in August. 



