THE PALMS 01 BRITISH INDIA AND CEYLON. 993 



Flowers hermaphrodite, whitish, with a strong disagreeable odour 

 which attracts a great number of bees ; pedicel short, a 

 little longer than the stamens ; stamens 8-12, hypogynous ; 

 filaments subulate, thickened, compressed and united at the base, 

 slightly shorter than the ovary ; anthers erect, bilocular, basifixed, 

 bifid at both ends ; style slightly shorter than the ovary, stout, 

 funnel-shaped at the top ; ovary 1 -celled, 1-ovuled. Fruit globose, 

 of the size of a pea or small cherry, pulpy, flesh black, containing 

 a reddish-black juice. 



Habitat. — Barbadoes ; Guadeloupe, on limestone hills. 



Flowers. — Twice a year and often five times in two years. 

 (Duss). 



Uses. — When young the palm is well adapted for room-decora- 

 tion. 



Note : Beccari has changed the old name of this species into Coccothrinax 

 barbadensis. Cf. Webbias II, 328. 



COEYPHA, L. Gen. Nat. 1221. 



(From the Greek " Corypha," crown of the head, vertex. The 

 palm is called so on account of its beautiful crown of leaves.) 



Gaertn., Fruct., I.,t.7. — Lam. Illustr., t. 899.— Bl., Eumph. 11. 

 57, t. 97, 98, 105.— Roxb. Corom. Pl.t. 255, 256.— Kunth Enum. 

 PI. Ill, 235.— Mart. Hist. Nat. Palm. Ill, 231, 318, t. 108, 127. 

 —Griff. Palms Brit. Ind. t. 220 D, E, F, append. 23.— Miq. 

 Fl. Ind. Bat. Ill, 49.— Kurz For. Fl. II, 524.— Benth. et Hook. 

 Gen. PI. Ill, II, 922, 84. 



Tall, stout, unarmed palms, dying after once flowering and 

 ripening their seed at the age of between 20 and 80 years. 

 Leaves very large, orbicular or lunate, flabellately multifid ; seg- 

 ments in duplicate in vernation ; petioles stout, concave, spinous 

 at the edges. Spadix a very large, terminal, erect, decompound 

 panicle. Spathes many, tubular. Flowers small, hermaphrodite ; 

 calyx cupular, 3-fid ; petals 3, connate below in a stipes, ovate, 

 acute, imbricate or subvalvate ; stamens 6 ; filaments subulate ; 

 anthers dorsifixed. Ovary 3-lobed, 3-celled ; style short, subulate : 



