THE PALMS OF BRITISR INDIA AND CEYLON. 455 



Flowers — From November to Jan^"lar5^ 



Uses. — The cut flower stalks yield toddy. 



Illustration : Plate L. — A clump of Wight's Sago Palm grow- 

 ing in the Botanic Gardens of Calcutta. This tree, if left alone, 

 never grows an isolated stem, but has a strong tendency towards 

 forming dense tufts. 



The photograph was kindly presented by Major Gage. 



■■■ * INTRODUCED SPECIES. 



ARENGA 0BTU8IF0LIA, Mart. Hist. Nat. Palm. Ill, 191, t. 147, 148- 

 161 ; Mig. Fl. Ind. Bat. III. 36; Hook. Fl. Brit. Ind. VI, 421. A. Wester, 

 houtii Griff, in Calc. Journ. Nat. Hist. V. 474 ; Palms Brit. Ind. 166, t. 235 

 B, C, D ; Mart. 1. c. 192 ; Miq. 1. c. 37 — Sagiierus Icmgkab, Blume Eumphia 

 II. 131, t. 96, 125.- — Gomutus obtusifolius, Blume mss. 



Names. — Langkap (Penang) ; Anooee kutaree (Malacca.) 



Description : — Trunk tall, very stout. Leaves ample, linear-oblong 

 in outline, 20 feet long, 10 feet across in the broadest part, leaflets 

 sessile, about 5 feet in length, 3 inches broad, alternate or subopposite, 

 solitary, bifarious, v^ry spreading with deflexed points, alternate 

 towards the base, the upper ones alone auriculate at the lower side, 

 coriaceous, bright green above, white underneath, together Vv'ith the 

 petiole scurfy towards the base ; margins with irregular spinescent 

 teeth ; apex praemorse, dentate and erose, sometimes bilobed. 



Spadix curved-pendulous. Spathes fibrous, coriaceous, often 

 split. Spikes about level-topped. Male flowers in pairs, without an 

 interjDosed rudimentary female, or solitary with a rudimentary female ; 

 calyx cup-shaped, petals oblong, fuscous-purple. Stamens numerous ; 

 filaments short, subulate ; anthers with mucronate or aristate ends. 

 Pollen hispid, with a longitudinal fold. Female flowers solitary, 

 sessile, sepals broad, petals 3 ; cordate, concave, obtusely carinate ; 

 ovary roundish, trigonal, depressed at the apex, and there marked 

 with 3 lines running from the angles to the stigma, which are 3 in 

 number, tooth-shaped, and connivent so as to form a cone. 



Fruit roundish, about the size of a small apple, with a depressed 

 3-lobed, trigonal vertex, terminated by the sphacelated stigmas, 

 surrounded at the base by the perianth, 2-3-celled ; outer substance 

 thick, fibrous-fleshy. Seed separating with the thick gelatinous 

 cellular endocarp, of black colour ; when 3, convex-bifacial ; embryo 

 oblique, in the centre of the dorsal face of the horny albumen. 



Habitat. — Malay Peninsula at Naning ; Penang. Cultivated in 

 India. 



Illustration : Plate LI. — Several specimens of Arenga ohtusi- 

 folia from the Botanic Gardens of Calcutta. The photograph has 

 been supplied by Major Gage. 



BWYMOSPEBMA, Wendl. & Drude in Benth. & Hook. Gen., 

 PI, III, 11, 917, 71. 



