THE PALMS 01 BRITISH INDIA AND CEYLON. 277 



long, smooth, subtriquetrous, grooved down the face with a pale 

 band running from the top of the sheath down the back of the peti- 

 ole; leaf-sheath 1^-21 feet long, with a few fine black spines rising 

 from a compressed cushion ; blade pale green, 3-5 feet lono-, 2-3 

 feet broad ; pinnas 1-1-^ feet long, bifid at the apex, with many 

 primary views ^-1 inch apart, clothed on the underside with 

 medially-attached scales. 



Spadix 2-6 feet long ; peduncle elongate, 1-3 feet long, slender, 

 compressed, 1 inch thick; branches very slender, subsimple, 

 divaricate, flattened at their insertion. Spathes several, complete, 

 narrow, compressed, unarmed, the two lower ones persistent, the 

 upper one deciduous. Flowers pale. Male flowers symmetrical ; 

 sepals suborbiciilar, obtuse, concave, imbricate; petals broadly 

 ovate, subacute, valvate ; stamens 6 ; filaments short, triangular, 

 acute, imited into a short tube, anthers broadly didymous, dorsi- 

 fixed ; rudimentary ovary obconical-clavate. Female flowers larger 

 than the male ones, subgiobose ; sepals siibreniform, imbricate ; 

 petals longer, orbicular, convolutivo-imbricate ; staminodes obscure 

 or ; ovary ovoid or ellipsoidal, attenuate into a 3-fid conoid stigma. 



Distribution. — Seychelles, in shaded forests above 1,000 feet 

 in elevation, common (Kirk, Home). 



Introduced in Indian gardens. 



Cultivation in Europe. — Roscheria is a slender, erect stove 

 palm. It requires treatment similar to that recommended for 

 Ph(jenix. 



Illustration.— The specimen of Roscheria melanochcetes figured 

 on Plate LXV has been photographed by Mr, Macmillan in the 

 Botanic Garden of Peradeniya. 



NEPER08FT]UMA, Balf. f. in Bak. Fl. Maurit. 386. 



(From the Greek " nephros ", kidney, and "sperma" seed; 

 alluding to the shape of the seed.) 



Benth & Hook. Gen. PI. Ill, 11, 907, 52.— Drude, Palmae, p. 69. 

 Monoecious. Flowers in 3-flowered clusters, one female between 

 and below two males, spirally disposed and slightly immersed on 

 the branches. Spadix long-peduncled, simply branching, 

 axillary. Peduncle compressed. Spathes 2, complete, outer spiny, o 

 hairy bracts surrounding the spadix within. Male flowers : 

 Sepals imbricate ; petals valvate, thickened, thrice as long as the 

 sepals. Stamens 40-50, included, connate at the base; outer 

 shorter, with adnate erect anthers ; inner with horizontal anthers. 

 Pistillode undivided. Female flowers : Sepals and petals imbricate. 

 Staminodes forming a cup with many short, toothed lobes. 



Fruit globular, slightly flattened on one side ; stigma subapical 

 on the flattened side ; mesocarp fibrous ; endocarp thin, crusta- 



