278 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXIII. 



ceotis. Seed ascending, reniform ; raphe spreading from the base 

 and anastomosing at the apex ; albnmen densely ruminate ; embrj^o 

 basal. 



Species, 1. — Sej^chelles. 



NEPHROSPERMA VAN HOUTTEANA, Balf. f. in Bak. Fl. Maiirit. 

 386. — Oncospenna Van Houttemia, Wendl. MSS. — Areca nobilis, Horfc. 

 ex Solomon, p. 110. 



Name. — German : Nierenpalme. 



Description. — Stem 20-35 feet high, 4-6 inches in diameter. 

 Leaves 5-7 feet long ; petiole under 1 foot long, green, smooth ; 

 sheath 1^-2^ feet long, wooll}^ and sparsely spin}- with thin 

 coriaceous edges ; blade imequally pinnate ; leaflets 3-3^- feet 

 long, glabrous ; broad leaflets alternating irregularly with narrow 

 ones, the latter with a single primary vein ; veins bearing a few 

 scales towards the base beneath ; terminal leaflets confliient. 



Spadix 4-8 feet long; peduncle 3-5^ feet; branches 2^-3^ 

 feet long, compressed at the base. Basal spathe attached to the stem. 



Fruit orange-red, about \ inch long. 



Habitat. — Sej^chelles ; not uncommon in open places and by 

 the side of streams, up to 1,000 feet. 



Cultivation in Europe. — This species is a very elegant stove 

 palm. It thrives in a compost of turfy loam, leaf mould, and sand. 

 Care should be taken not to overpot. When grown with but limited 

 root room, and plentifully supplied with water, the plants are very 

 useful for decorative purposes in a young state. 



Illustration. — We have to thank Mr. Phipson for the 

 photograph reproduced on Plate LXVI. The young palm grows in 

 Victoria Gardens, Bombay,, To the left there are the stems of two 

 specimens of Oreodoxa regia, whilst to the right, part of the stem 

 and crown and several spadices of a Fishtail-Palm (Garyota urens) 

 may be seen. 



VjERSGHAFFULTIA, Wendl., Illustr. Hort. 12, Misc. 5. 



(After Ambroise Verschaffelt, Gardener at Ghent, 1825-86.) 



Baker, Fl. Maxirit. 387.— Benth. & Hook. Gen. PI. Ill, II, 

 908, 55. 



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

 and below 2 males, spirally arranged on the short branches of a 

 doubly-branched, slightly anplexicaiil, slender, drooping spadix 

 with a glabroiis compressed peduncle. Spathes 3. Perianth very 

 minute. Staminodes forming a ring with 6 short 2-lobed teeth. 



Fruit globular ; scar of the stigma subbasal ; mesocarp spongy ; 

 endocarp thick, woody, brittle, with vertical ridges reaching from 

 base to apex. Seed ascending, globular, umbelicate at the base. 



