THE PALMS OF BRITISH INDIA AND CEYLON. 681 



Spadix f — 1 foot long, patent between the leaves ; spathe densely 

 covered with long, black, thin, retro-cnrved spines ; peduncle about 

 ^ foot long, as long as the branches ; rhachis very short, f -|^ inch ; 

 branches rigid, few (5-8), ^ ft. long and longer, densely floriferons 

 from base to apex. Male flowers: |^g inch long ; calyx trifid ; corolla 

 trifid almost half-way down ; anthers long ; filaments short ; pistillode 

 0. Female flowers slightly smaller than the male ones, ovoid ; 

 calyx tirceolate including the nrceolate corolla. Drupe ovoid, bluish- 

 black, about If inch long and li inch in diameter ; exocarp thinly 

 scabrous; putamen much thickened, obliquely ellipsoidal, li inch 

 long and ^ inch broad ; albumen fleshy, excavated. 



Habitat. — New Granada, Guiana, Brazil. 



Illusteation. — The beautiful tuft of Bactris major, figured on 

 PI. XCII, grows in the Botanic Gardens of Sibpur. We have to 

 thank Major Gage for kindly supplying the photograph. 



Y.—PHYTELJEPHANTIN^ (PalmEe anomalEe.) 



Numerous complete or incomplete spathes. Male and female 

 branches (or spadices) separate. Perianth of one of the sexes 

 absent or radimentary. Fruits forming a syncarpium, 1-multi- 

 locular. — Leaves regularly pinnate ; leaflets reduplicate. 



Phytele-phas, E,. & P., Nipa, Thumb. 



PHYTELEPEAS, R & P. 



(From the Greek " phyton," plant, and " elephas," elephant, 

 ivory.) 



WiUd. Sp. PI. IV. 1158.— Gaudich. Yoy. Bon. t. 14-16, 29, 30. 

 — Karst. Lin. 28, 275.— Mart. Hist. Nat. Palm. III. 306.— 

 Kunth Enum. PI. III. 109.— Spruce Journ. Lin. Soc. IV. 186.— 

 Beuth. & Hook. Gen. PL III. II, 921, 79. 



Stemless or low-stemmed palms, up to 20 feet high. Crown very 

 dense. Leaves 12-20, pinnate, 15-20 feet long; leaflets 150 — 160, 

 alternate at the base, opposite towards the upper end. Spadices 

 growing from between the leaves, dioecious. Male spadix simple, 

 long ; spathes 2-4, almost complete. Male flowers with an irregu- 

 larly cup-shaped, denate perigone or with crossed leaflets. Stamens 

 § (30 and twice or thrice as many) ; fllaments filamentous ; anthers 

 linear, attached close to the base ; pollen finely spinous. Female 

 spadix simple ; spathes comparatively longer. Female flowers in a 

 dense bundle which is covered by many spirally arranged bracts; 

 immediately surrounded by 2 rows of irregular, long-acuminate leaves, 

 the outer shorter row mostly of 3, the inner much longer one of 5-10 

 leaves; staminodes many, with barren anthers. Ovary globose, with 

 mostly 5 (4-9) loculi ; style long-columnar ; stigmas as many 

 as there are loculi, long-filamentous ; ovule 1 in each loculus ; 



