67 



THE PALMS OF BRITISH INDIA AND CEYLON, 

 INDIGENOUS AND INTRODUCED 



BY 



E. Blatter, S.J. 

 Part VIII. 



{With Plates XL—XLVIII, and text-figures 28—31.) 

 (Continued from 'page 968 of Volume XXI.) 



LOBOIOEA, LABILL. Ann. Mus. Paris, IX, 140, t. 13\ 



(" Lodoicea " is said to be altered from " Laodicea," so called 

 after Laodice, the daughter of Priam.) 



Willd. Sp. PL 402.— Knnth Enum. PI III, 225.— Mart. Hist. 

 Nat. Palm. Ill, 221, t. 109, 122.— Baker Fl. Maurit. 379.— 

 Benth. et Hook. Gen. PL III, II. 939, 117.— Lurs. Bot. II, 338. 



A tall dioceious palm. Flowers in axillary spadices, sur- 

 rounded at the base by several obliquelj^ truncate spathes. Male : 

 spikes cylindrical, the flowers in subreniform clusters in hollows 

 of the axis, imbricated in two rows, each flower subtended by a 

 bracteole. Outer segments of the perianth spathtilate-cucullate ; 

 inner obcuneate. Stamens about 36 ; filaments monadelphous ; 

 anthers linear ; rudimentary pistil represented by 1-3 subulate 

 processes. Female : flowers fewer than in the male spikes, con- 

 tained in cups formed by a pair of bracteoles ; ovary ovoid, 3- 

 rarely 2-or 4-celled ; stigmas sessile ; stamens represented by 

 minute staminodes. 



Fruit a drupe, large, olive-green ; usually 1 -seeded ; mesocarp 

 thick, fibrous ; pyrene large, bony, firmly attached to the meso- 

 carp, usually 2-lobed ; albumen homogeneous, cartilaginous ; 

 embryo placed between the lobes. 



Species — 1. 



Distribution. — Seychelles, 



LODOICEA SEYCHELLARUM, Labill. in Ann. Mus. Paris. IX, 140 

 t. 13; Spreng. Syst. Veg. 11,622; W. J. Hooker in Curtis, Bot. Mag. 

 2734-38 ; Mart. Hist. Nat. Palm. Ill, 221, t. 109, 122, t. X, fig. II et t. 

 Z. V. fig. VIII ; Brandis For. Fl. 545 ; Baker, Fl. Maurit. & Seych. 380.— 

 Cocos maldivica, Gmel. Sysb. Nat. II, 69 ; Willd. Spec. PL IV, 402, n, 6. 

 — Borassus sonnerati, Giseke Lin. Prael. Ord. Nat. 88. — Lodoicea callipyge 

 sive Cocos maritima, Commers, Ms. II et Palmarium volum. t. 1-15. — 

 Lodoicea maldivica, Pers. Enchir. II, 680. — Nux medica, Clusius Exotic. 

 libri decern (1563). 



Names. — Tavacarre, Coquinko (Seychelles). 



1 " Giseke (Prael. 1792, p. 88) correctly divined its aflSnities, naming it Borassus 

 Sonnerati. Labillardi^re created for it the genus Lodoicea. But this, though 

 maintained, is only distinguished technically from Borasszis by the numerous 

 stamens and large fruit." — ^W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, 



