THE PALMS OF BRITISS INDIA AND CEYLON. 281 



de Kew, avait ete vendue, apres avoir passe en diverses mains, a M 

 Borsig, de Berlin, ou M. K. Koch la vit en 1859 et la decrivit sous le 

 nom d' Astrocaryum Borsigianum." De Kercliove de Denterghem. 

 Les Palmiers. iparis, 1878, p. 124-125. 



Cultivation in Europe. — A noble stove palm. A hot, moisture- 

 laden atmosphere is necessary. If the temperature is too low, or 

 if the air becomes dry, the palm begins to suffer. It grows well 

 in a compost of fibrous peat, pieces of charcoal, and turfy loam and 

 sand. Perfect drainage required. Propagation by means of 

 imported seed. 



Mythological Origin of Stbvensonia. 



With regard to this palm the natives of the Seychelles narrate 

 that a bird of gigantic proportions took, after the creation, his 

 flight towards the sun and as he was flying too fast he lost one of 

 his feathers. The feather was carried about in space for a long 

 time and, finally, fell to the ground in one of the islands. There it 

 found fertile soil and growing roots developed into a magnificent 

 palm. The leaves of this tree consist of one piece and grow larger 

 towards the top, resembling thus the feather of a gigantic bird of 

 bygone times. 



Illustration. — Mr. Millard was kind enough to supply us with 

 the photograph of a young specimen of Stevensonia growing in 

 his garden on Malabar Hill. The leaf-sheaths are comparatively 

 very long and covered with long spines. There is only one leaf in 

 our picture which distinctly shows the bifid blade of the plant. Of. 

 Plate LXVII. 



Plate LXVIII shows a well developed palm of the same species, 

 taken by Mr. Macmillan in the Botanic Garden of Peradeniya. 

 Between and behind the leaves the remains of some old spadices 

 may be seen, whilst in the centre of the crown there is a young 

 spadix still enclosed in its spathes. 



(To he continued.^ 



