510 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HLST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXIV. 



scariotis. Petals of tlie same size and shape as the sepals. 

 Stamens 6 ; filaments short, nnited at the base ; anthers sagitatte. 

 Rudimentary ovary reduced to a whitish protruberance. Female 

 spadix : Peduncle shorter than in the male, inflorescence 

 more massive than in the female and sometimes more spherical, 

 though slight^ compressed, ^-l^foot long, ^-^ foot broad; branches 

 about 100-150, each bearing 6-40 flowers, usually 8-12. Flowers 

 much larger than in the male ; bract 1 , whitish-yellow or greenish, 

 lanceolate-subulate, about ^ inch long and terminated by a spine 

 which reaches beyond the flower ; bracteoles small, ovate or ovate- 

 oblong, shorter than the sepals. Sepals 3, oblong, |-| inch long, 

 scarious, subobtuse and often laciniate at the top. Petals 3, of the 

 same shape as the sepals, of the same length or slightly longer ; 

 annular disk truncate or very slightly dentate. No rudimentary 

 stamens. Ovary ovoid-cylindric, \ inch long, about ^ inch in dia- 

 meter, 1-locular (or exceptionally 2-3-locular) ; style whitish, about 

 ^ inch long, of almost the same diameter as the ovary; stigmas 3, 

 rarely 4, ovule 1 in each loculus, inserted at the base, filling the 

 whole cavity. 



Fruiting spadix ^-1^^ feet long, ^-1^ feet broad. During the 

 ripening of the fruits the terminal spines of the branches and bracts 

 become longer. Fruit sessile, enclosed in the dry perianth, ovoid, 

 attenuate and then suddenl}^ truncate at the apex, with the dry 

 stjle, often persistent, red passing into orange, or almost orange 

 or Vermillion red, or sometimes black in the upper half, and whitish 

 yellow in the lower. Size variable according to the variety of the 

 plant, reaching ■j,,-\ i^^ch in length by ^^ — about ^ in diameter. 

 Seed occupying the whole cavity of the endocarp. 



Habitat. — The geographical limits of the Oil Palm in W. Africa 

 are in the north the Senegal River (16° N. L.), in the south the 

 districts Loanda and Benguela in the Portuguese Congo. East- 

 wards it stretches from the west coast right across Africa. In 

 Central Africa it has not been observed beyond 18^^45' N. L. 



History. — De Candolle writes about this palm : " Travellers 

 who visited the coast of Guinea in the first half of the sixteenth 

 century alread}^ noticed this palm, from which the Negroes extracted 

 oil by pressing the fleshy part of the fruit. The tree is indigenous 

 on all that coast. It is also planted, and the exportation of palm- 

 oil is the object of an extensive trade. As it is also found wild in 

 Brazil and perhaps in Guinea, a doubt arose as to the true origin. 

 It seems the more likely to be American that the o\\\j other 

 species which with this one constitutes the genus Elaeis belongs to 

 New Granada. Robert Brown, however, and the authors who have 

 studied the family of palms, are unanimous in their belief that 

 Elaeis guineensis was introduced into America b}^ the Negroes and 

 slave-traders in the traffic between the Guinea coast and coast of 



