THE PALMS OF BRITISH IMIIA AXD CEYLON. 3ai 



Rind, and Bekh. : Supari, snpyari. 



Beruj. : Gua, supari. 



Ass. : Tambul. 



Tel. : Poka-vakka, vakka'. 



Tarn. : Kamugu, pakku, kottai-pakkii. 



Kan. : xidike. 



Gioj. : Sopari, liopari, phoplial. 



Mar. : Supari. 



Mai. : Adaka, kavugu, atakka. 



■Sans. : Piiga-phalam, gubak. 



Arab. : Fofal, fufal.* 



Pers. : Gird-chob, popal. 



Singh. : Puwak, ptivakka. 



Jav. : Bhunghana penang, Jambe, Jebug. 



Burm. : Kwam-thee-beng, kmisi, kun, kuii-thee-bin. 



Andaon. : Ah-bud-dah, ah-purrud-dah. 



Modern Malay. : Pinang. 



Pliilvpinnes : Bonga, Bunga, Luyos. 



New Britain : Bue. 



Peleiv Islands : Bua. 



Dul-e of York Island, Solomon Group : Boa. 



Amhoina : Puah, Buali. 



Banda : Pua. 



Guam : Pugua. 



Description. — Trunk solitary, qtiite straight, 40-100 feet liigli, 

 usually about 20 inches in circumference, uniform^ thick. Leaves 

 4-6 feet, leaflets numerou.s, 1-2 feet, upper confluent, glabrous. 



Spathe double, compressed, glabrous. Spadix much branched, bear- 

 ing male and female floAvers. Rhachis stout, compressed ; branches 

 with filiform tips. Male flowers very numerous, sessile, without 

 bracts; calyx 1 -leaved, small, 3-cornered, 3-parted; petals 3, 

 •oblong, rigid, striated ; stamens 6, anthers sagittate. Female flow- 

 ers solitary, or 2 or 3, at or near the base of each ramification of 

 the spadix, sessile, without bracts ; sepals 3, cordate, rigid, flesh}', 

 permanent ; petals 3, like the sepals, permanent ; staminodes 6, 

 •connate ; style scarcel}^ anj?^ ; stigmas 3, short, triangular. 



Fruit 1-^-2 inches long, smooth, orange or scarlet. 



Habitat. — The Betel-nut Palm is cultivated exclusively within 

 the moist tropical tracts that fringe the coast of India, and practically 

 within a belt of land that, with a few exceptions, does not extend 

 inland for more than 200 miles. It rarely ascends to attitudes ot 

 3,000 feet and gradually disappears, even from the littoral area, as 

 localities are entered where the duration of the dry hot months equals 

 or exceeds the monsoons. It is usually seen as a garden plant, but 



* Fufal, a corruption of " pupal ''(Per-), a word cognate with pugi phal (Sausk.)- 



