356 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XX. 



seashore on the East side of Malabar Hill, Bombay, characteristic 

 of man}' parts of India. 



PHOENIX ZEYLANICA, Trimen in Journ. Bot, XXIII, 267 (1885) ; 

 Hook. Fl. Brit. Ind. VI. 425 ; Trimen PL Ceylon IV. 326.— Phoenix 

 seylanica, Hort ; Hook, f . in Kew Report, 1882, 63. — Phoenix sylvestris, 

 Thw. Enum. 329 (non Eoxb.) .— Elate sylvestris, L. Sp. PL 1189 (for the 

 most part). — Phoenix pusilla, Becc. Malesia, III. 408 (non Gfertn.). 



Name: — Ceylon Date Palm ; Indi (in Ceylon). 



Description : — Stem 8-20 feet high, rarely much shorter. 

 Leaves rather short; leaflets very many, quadrifariously inserted, 

 subequidistant, 7-10 inches long, linear-lanceolate, pungent, coria- 

 ceous, concave, spreading at right angles, bright green. Spathe 

 8-14 inches long, keel furfuraceous. Spadix 1 foot long or more, 

 young scopiform ; peduncle stout ; rhachis flattened ; branches of 

 male 4-6 inches long, of female longer. Male flowers ^ inch long ; 

 stamens 6 ; anthers subsessile, linear ; female spadix long peduncled ; 

 peduncle 1 inch broad, flattened, branches 6-10 inches long, diver- 

 gent in fruit. Female flowers scattered, globose; \ inch in dia- 

 meter, calyx cup-shaped ; petals orbicular. Fruit -| inch by \ inch 

 in diameter, obovoid-oblong. apiculate, red, at length violet-blue; 

 seed nearly as long, with the groove dilating into a canal of 

 various forms. 



Habitat. — Ceylon, moist low country, especially on the Southern 

 Coast, very common. 



Flowers in February. 



Uses : — Mats and boxes are made of the leaves. The sweet- 

 pulp of the fruit is eaten. 



Illustration. — Plate IV. The photograph supplied by Mr. 

 Macmillan, shows a specimen of Phoenix zeylanica. The leaves are 

 comparatively short and do not exhibit the graceful curves of the 

 Wild Date Palm. The stem is very rough being covered 

 throughout with the bases of the fallen leaves. 



PHCENIX RUPICOLA, T. Anders, in Jonrn. Linn. Soc. XI. 13, 1869. 

 Becc. Males.' III. 348, 395.— P. Andersoni, Cat. Hort. Calc. n. 119 

 (1886—7.) ; Gard. Chron. 1877, II. 45, fig. 4. Hook f. Flora Brit. Ind. VI. 

 425. — Phcenicoidea, Griff. Journals, 46, 



