(576 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HLST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXII. 



sheathing ; sheath cylindric, slightly attenuate upwards, about 1 

 foot in diameter, dark green ; peduncle 4 inches broad above the 

 sheath, and 20-25 inches long, semi-cylindric and deeply canali- 

 culate with acute margins ; rhachis convex below, excavate on the 

 upper side; segments about 200 on each side with a thickened 

 pialvinus at the base, the lowest and uppermost almost equidistant, 

 the middle ones slightly crowded, 3 feet long, 1-^ inches broad, 

 lanceolate-linear, acuminate, bright green, slightly glaucescens on 

 the lower surface. 



Spadix rising at the base of the cylinder formed by the leaf- 

 sheaths, 2-|-3 feet long, decompound. Inner spathe cylindric, 

 attenuate at both ends, cuspidate, lignescent, opening longitudin- 

 ally on the ventral side ; peduncle almost 1 inch in diameter, 

 sliglitljr thickened at the point of branching; branches furfuraceous- 

 puberulous. Flowers crowded, 3 together, the middle one female ; 

 bract at the base of the female flower small, membranous, trian- 

 gular subulate, persistent ; bracteoles 2, minute, broadly-triangular 

 Male flowers : sepals minute, scarcely 1 line long, broadly cordate- 

 triangular, imbricate ; corolla 2^ lines long ; petals oblong- 

 lanceolate, acute, straw-coloured, valvate ; stamens 6, more than 1 

 line long ; anthers linear, bifid at the base, pistillode minute, sub- 

 triquetrous. Female flowers half the size of the male flowers ; calyx 

 3-phyllous sepals orbicular- ovate, obtuse, imbricate; petals ovate-sub- 

 triangular, slightly concave, valvate; staminodes forming a six- 

 dentate cupule ; ovary ovate; stigmas 3, sessile. 



Fruit a berry, inciirved, obovoid-oblong, 8-9 lines long; fibres 

 of the mesocarp in an oval area. Seed oblong, 4-5 lines long; 

 albumen horny. Embryo cylindric, basilar. 



Habitat, — Bahamas; Jamaica, common in the mountains, 

 Trinidad, Cuba, and other Antilles. 



Uses. — The "heart" is made into pickles, or when boiled is 

 served at table. The trunks serve as gutterings. The pith 

 furnishes a kind of sago, and the nuts yield oil by decoction. 

 The wood is very hard, but so thin that it is only fit for walking- 

 sticks or ramrods. The leaf-sheaths, after falling ofi", are woody 

 like deal. When the leaves are cut off" green, the inside skin 

 of the sheaths, if dried, looks like vellum ; this bears ink very 

 well on one side, on the other it seems greasy. Twenty large 

 sheaths may be procured from one trunk. In their native country 

 the broad part of the footstalks forms a hollow trough or 

 cradle for children ; when cut up it makes excellent splints for 

 fractures. 



Illustration. — The magnificent avenue of Cabbage palms 

 (Oreodoxa oleracect), pictured on plate LXI, was photographed by 

 Mr. Macmillan in the Botanic Gardens of Peradeniya, The stems 



