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



Very incomplete descriptions of Thrinax radiata are to be found 

 in the following books : Roem. et Schult., Syst., Veg. VII, 2, 

 1301 ; Desf. Cat. h. Paris ed. 3, 31; Mart. Hist. Nat. Palm, III, 

 257 ; but they will not help much towards establishing the iden- 

 tity of our specimen. 



We hope the Superintendent of the Victoria Gardens will be 

 kind enough to furnish us, after some time, with a detailed de- 

 scription of the flowers. 



Plate XIV represents a beautiful specimen of the High 

 Thatch Palm, which is called in Indian gardens Thrinax excelsa, 

 Griseb. (or Lodd. et Griseb.). Mr. Phipson has taken the photo- 

 graph in a Bombay garden. This palm is a favourite with ama- 

 teurs on account of its ornamental character. 



There are many palms which received the name of Thrinax 

 excelsa in the course of time. One of them is described and figur- 

 ed in Hooker's Botanical Magazine (t. 7088); but even so Beccari 

 was not able to establish its exact identity. 



THRINAX PARVIILORA, Sw. Prodr. 57 (178S-.; Fl. Ind. Occid. 1, 

 614, t. 13— Ait. Hort. Kew. Ill, 473— Willd., Spec. PI. II, pt. I, 202.— 

 Pers. Syn. I, 383.— Lunan, Hort. Jam. II, 28.— Poiret, Lam. Diet. VII, 635. 

 — Titford, Hort. Bot. Am. 112.— Spreng. Syst. Veg. II, 20.— Koem. & Sch. 

 Syst. Veg. VII, pt. II, 1300.— Mart. Hist. Nat. Palm, III, 255, t. 103.— 

 Kth. Bnum. PL III, 253.— Dietrich, Syn. II, 1091.— Walp. Ann. V, 818.— 

 Grisebach, Fl. Brit. W. Ind. 515. — T. pumilo, Lodd. ex Roem et Sch., Syst., 

 Veg. VII, 2, 1301.— Z\ excelsa (Lodd.?) Griseb. Fl. Brit. W. Ind. 515. 



Names. — Silk-Top Palmetto; Thatch Palm; Palmetto Royal; 

 Palmetto Thatch. 



Description. — A tree, from 10-20 feet in height, with a slender 

 stem 4 or 5 inches in diameter, covered with thin smooth blue- 

 grey rind. The leaves are orbicular, from 3-4 feet in diameter, 

 thin, bright green on the upper surface, paler and coated while 

 young on the lower surface with pale caducous tomentum, and, 

 except at the base, where they are split nearly to the ligula, divid- 

 ed for about two-thirds of their diameter into laciniate lobes, with 

 stout yellow midribs prominent on the upper side, and with much 

 thickened reflexed margins ; the lobes near the middle of the leaf 



