930 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXI. 



perianth fleshy, greatly accrescent in fruit ; sepals imbricate ; 

 petals convolute ; staminodes 6-9 ; ovary globose, entire or 3-4— 

 cleft, 3-4-celled ; stigmas 3 ; ovules basilar, erect. Fruit a large 

 sub globose drupe with 1-3 obcordate compressed pyrenes ; peri- 

 carp thinly fleshy ; stigmas terminal. Seeds compressed, quadrate, 

 top 3-lobed ; testa adherent to the pyrene ; albumen equable, . 

 hollow ; embryo apical. 

 Species 1. 



BORASSUS FLABELLIFER, L. Sp. PI. 1187 ; Hook. Fl. Br. Ind. VI, 

 482 ; Trim. Fl. Ceyl. IV, 336.— B. Flabelliformis, L. Syst. Veg. ed. 13,829 

 — Thw. Enum. 329 ; Roxb. Cor. PI. I, 50, t. 71, 72 ; Fl. Ind. Ill, 790 ; Griff. 

 Notul. Ill, 167; Mart. Hist. Nat. Palm. Ill, 221, t. 108, 121, 162; Kunth. 

 Enum. Ill, 222.— Brand. For. Fl. 544.— Kurz. For. Fl. II. 529.— 5o?-as- 

 sus tunicata, Lour. Fl. Cochiuch. ed. Willd., p. 760. — B. aethiopum Mart.,, 

 1. c. 221. — Lontarus domestica, Rumph. Herb. Amb. I, t. 10 ; Ham. in 

 Mem. Warn. Soc. V, 314; Gaertn. Fruct. I, 21, t. 8.— Rheede Hort. 

 Malab. I, t. 9, 10. 



Names. — Palmyra Palm, Brab Tree' (English); Tala, Tal, Tri- 

 naraja (Sansk.) ; Tal, Tar, Tarka jliar (Hind.) ; Tad, Tamar (Mar.) ; 

 Tal, Talgachh (Beng.) ; Tan (Burm.) ; Taark Dizaar (Deccan) ; 

 Tala-wruxium (Tanjore) ; Tal, Tal gaha (Singh.) ; Panay, Panay- 

 raaram [the tree], Arn Panay [the male tree], Purn-Panay [the 

 female tree], Vadaly [the young tree], Oly [the leaf], Panang-kai 

 [the fruit], Nonku [the kernel] (Tamil); Pootpady, Poottaly, , 

 Ponthy, Talam (Poetical Tamilj ; Tatechutta [the tree], Potutadu 

 [the male tree], Pentetadu [the female tree], Bonda [the young 

 tree], Tatikaya [the fi'uit], Tataku [the leaf], Nungu [the edible 

 part of the fruit] (Tel.) ; Lontar (Malay); Rental, Sualan (Java); 

 Coli (Timor) ; Murume (Cochin China) ; Panuguera, Palmeira 

 macha brava (Portug.) ; Jager-Boom, Weingeevende Palm-Boom 

 (Dutch) ; Palmyra Palme (German) ; Rondier (French). 



Description. — Trunk attains 100 feet in height and 2-3 feet 

 in diameter, black, swollen above the middle and again contracted 

 upwards, while young covered with dry leaves or the bases of 

 petioles, old stems marked with the black narrow scars of the 



^ The name ' Brab,' commonly used in Bombay, is derived from the Portuguese 

 ' brava '. ' wild palm.' 



