THE PALMS OF BRITISH INDIA AND CEYLON. 279 



marked with ridges corresponding to the grooves of the endocarp ; 

 raphe branching from the hilum and anastomosing freely over the 

 surface ; albumen deeply ruminate ; embryo stibbasal. 



Species. — 1. 

 Distribution, — Seychelles. 



VERSCHAFFELTIA SPLENDID A, Wendl. in Illustr. Hort. XII, Misc. 

 5 ; Baker, Fl. Maurit. & Seych. 387 — Stevensonia viridifolia, Duncan 

 MSS. — Phmnicopliorium viridifolium, 'H.oxt.—Regelia tnagnifica, Rollis. — 

 Regelia majestica, Hort.- — Regelia prince'ps, Hort. 



Description. — Stem 80 feet high, 6-12 inches in diameter, with 

 many aerial roots, very spiny when young. Leaf 5-8 feet long ; 

 petiole ^-1 foot long, pale green, semiterete, grooved down the face, 

 spiny ; leaf-sheath 2^-3^ feet long, white granular, spiny ; blade 

 cuneate, obovate, bright green, 4-7 feet long, 3-5 feet broad, bifid, 

 the edges deeply incised, the primary veins prominent on both 

 surfaces, furnished with a few medially-attached scales on the lower 

 one, each primaiy nerve bordered by 2 inconspicuous veinlets. 



Spadix 3-6 feet long, peduncle compressed, 3-4 feet long ; flower- 

 ing branches 7-8 inches long. 



Fruit f-1 inch in diameter. 



Habitat. — Seychelles : very common amongst rocks on all islands. 

 — Cultivated in gardens. 



Cultivation in Europe. — This species is a noble stove palm. It 

 grows well in a moisture-laden atmosphere and suffers if the tem- 

 perature falls too low, or the air becomes dry. The mixture best 

 adapted for it is a well-drained, fibrous peat, with pieces of charcoal 

 and turfy loam and sand intermixed. Propagation effected by seeds. 



PH(ENIGOPEOEIUM,'WQndl. Illustr. Hort. 12, t. 433. 



Dune. Cat. Hort. Maurit. 87 {Stevensonia). — Baker Fl. Maurit. 

 388 {8tevenson%a).— Hook. & Benth. Gen. PI. Ill, II, 908, 54. 

 {Stevensonia) — C. Kch. Berl. Wochenschr. 1859, 401 {Stevensonia). 



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

 below 2 males, spirally arranged on the thick branches of a doubly- 

 branched, erect, long-peduncled spadix in the axil of a leai. 

 Spathes 2 ; outer persistent, covered with bristles ; inner woody, 

 deciduous. Male flowers : inner segments of perianth valvate, many 

 times longer than the outer ones. Stamens 15-20, connate at the 

 base, included. Pistillode a subulate grooved column. Female 

 flowers : staminodes forming a shortly-toothed cup. 



Fruit a small ovoid drupe, flattened on the side on which the 

 subbasilar stigma is placed, furnished with a ridge on the convex 

 side when dry ; mesocarp thin, fibrous ; endocarp crustaceous, not 

 grooved. Seed ascending, cordate-ovoid, flattened on the side on 

 which it is attached ; branches of the raphe spreading from the 

 13 



