458 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXII. 



Spathes many, tubular, clothing the peduncle, of the spadix, 

 upper large cymbiform. Spadices interfoliar, monoecious or 

 polygamous ; males ovoid, excessively^ branched and dense-flowered ; 

 female looser-flowered. Male flowers symmetric, calyx cylindric or 

 cupular, membranous, truncate ; corolla cylindric, deeply 3-lobed, 

 lobes oblong, valvate ; stamens 6 on the corolla-tube ; filaments 

 short, anthers large ; pistillode 0. Female flowers much smaller, sub- 

 globose, sepals orbicular, coriaceous, imbricate, petals triangular, 

 valvate, staminodes few or 0, ovary 2-3-celled, stipitate ; stigmas 

 conic, ovules sub-basilar. 



Fruit ovoid-oblong, 1-3-celled and -seeded. Seeds erect, plano- 

 convex, albumen equable ; embryo dorsal, conical. 



Species about 3. 



Distribution. — Indian and Malayan. 



Cultivation in Europe.— Dwarf tufted stove palms, which must 

 be grown in strong, rich soil. They are propagated by seeds or b}' 

 suckers. These must be gradually separated in order that they maj^ 

 make sufiicient roots before they are quite detached. 



1. Male spikes almost filiform ... ... W. caryotoides. 



2. Male spikes thick and rigid — 



(a) Leaves placed in a ^ spiral ... W. densijlora. 

 (6) Leaves strictly distichous ... W. disticha. 



WALLICHIA BENSIFLORA, Mart., Hist. Nat. Palm. Ill, 190 ; Kurz 

 For. Fl. II, 532, Brandis. For. Fl. 549.— Wallichia oblongifolia, Griff, in Calc. 

 Jourri. Nat. Hist. V. 486. — Harina oblongifolia, Griff. Palms, of Brit. Ind. 

 175, t. 287, A. B. C— Wallichia caryotoides, Wall. Cat. 8596 B. 



Names. — Kala Aunsa, Gor Aunsa. (Kumaon) ; Takoru (Nep.) ; 

 Ooh (of the Lepchas in Sikkim) ; Zanoung (Burma). 



Description. — An elegant palm, forming thick tufts, stems very 

 short or ; trunk sheathed, scurfy, sheaths villous, resolving into 

 strong fibres. Leaves 8-10 feet long; leaflets 1-2 feet, very many, 

 alternate or often sub-opposite, or the lower 2-4-nate, oblong or 

 linear-oblong, sinuatel}^ lobed, acutely toothed, with a brown midrib 

 and many parallel nerves, bright green above, white beneath; the 

 terminal pinnules are broadly cuneate, 3-lobed, the central lobe 

 being itself 2-lobed and eroso-dentate ; sheaths scurfy. 



Male spadices axillary, curved, often pendulous ; the ends of the 

 lowermost toiTching the groimd, about 1^ foot long. Spathes 

 densed imbricated, the innermost almost membranous, striate, 

 tinged with dark purple, eqiialling the flower-bearing part of 

 the spadix. Spikes slender, \&vj numerous, level-topped, pendulous, 

 their points projecting beyond the opening of the spathes. Flowers 

 very numerous, yellow, solitary, or the lower in pairs, with a 

 rudimentary female between. Calyx cylindric, nearly entire, 

 corolla as long as the caljoc, tripartite nearly to the base ; segments 

 reflexed. Stamens 6; filaments adnate to the petals; no pistillode. 



