448 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATVRAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXII. 



some crevice, with the result that it was irretrievably injured. In 

 a subsequent attempt the petiole did not grow to so great a length, 

 and it was possible to guide its course, and finally establish the 

 young plant in a pot. This grew pretty rapidly, and in 1892 was 

 exhibited in the Victoria Regia House at Kew, still drawing nutri- 

 ment from the parent seed, a process which may apparently continue 

 for some j^ears.''^ 



This palm thrives best in a compost of rich loam and leaf mould 

 in equal parts. Thorough drainage, an abundant supply of water, 

 and very strong heat, are essential elements to success in the culture 

 of this plant. The seeds being very large, one of the chief difficul- 

 ties in establishing this palm is its peculiar manner of germination. 

 If the first long outgrowth be checked or injured in anyway, success 

 cannot be hoped for. The heavy seed can be kept on or in one pot, 

 and the growing radicle allowed to push into another, keeping the 

 whole dark until the development of the 3"0ung plant, from which 

 the seed should not be separated until the connection between the 

 two falls naturally. (Nich. Diet, of Gard.) 



History, Uses. — Of. our paper: — "History of the Sea Coco- 

 nut" in Vol. XIX, p. 925-937 of this Journal. 



AEJENOA, Labill. Mem. Inst. Paris, IV, 209. 



(From the vernacular name used in the Moluccas.) 



Eoxb. n. Ind. Ill, 626 (iSa^^er-Ms).— Spreng. Gen. Nat. 2222 

 {Qomutus).—M&vt. Hist. Nat. Palm. Ill, 191, t. 108, 147, 148.— 

 Kunth. Bnum. PI. Ill, 196.— Bl. Eumph. II, 124, t. 95, 123-125 

 {8aguerus).—Giv\E. Palms Brit. Ind. 163, t. 235.— Miq. Fl. Ind. 

 Bat. Ill, 34.— Becc. Males. I, 78.— Kurz For. Fl. II, 533.— 

 Benth. Fl. Austr. VII, 143.— Crude Bot. Zeitg. 1877, 638, t. 6.— 

 Wendl. & Crude Linn. 39, 229 (^Sa^wems).— Benth. & Hook. 

 Gen. PI. Ill, II, 917, 72.— Hook. Fl. Brit. Ind. VI, 421. 



Tall stout palms, flowering first from an upper leaf-axil and suc- 

 cessively from lower; trunk densely clothed above with fibrous 

 remains of the leaf-sheaths. Leaves terminal, long, pinnatisect ; 

 leaflets long, linear, usually prsemorse, with a midrib and numerous 

 longitudinal nerves and one or two auricles at the base. 



Spathes many, clothing the peduncle of the spadix. Spadices 

 interfoliar, large, much-branched ; branches slender, pendulous ; 

 peduncles short, decurved. Male and female flowers usually solitary 

 and in separate spadices, rarely 3-nate, a female between 2 males. 

 Male flowers symmetric ; sepals 3, orbicular, imbricate ; petals oblong, 

 vulvate ; stamens numerous ; filaments short ; anthers apiculate ; pis- 

 tillode 0. Female flowers subglobose ; sepals accrescent ; petals 



1 Thiselton-Dyer, W. T., 1. c, p. 226, 227. 



