516 



THE PALMS OF BRITISH INDIA AND CEYLON, 

 INDIGENOUS AND INTRODUCED 



BY 



E. Blatter, S.J. 



Part XII. 



(With Plates LXIX—LXXIV.) 



(Continued from jpage 281 of this Volume.) 



AGANTHOPECENIX, Weiidl. in Fl. des Serres, t. 181. 



(Etym.: From the Greek " acantha/' a tliorn or prickle, and 

 " phoenix", a palm.) 



Balf. f. in Baker, Fl. Manrit. 384 ; Mart. Hist. Nat. Palm, III, 

 174, t. 154, 155, fig. 1 (Areca crinita) et 176, t. 154, 155, fig. 2 

 (A. rubra excl. descript. et ic. fruct) Benth. and Hook. Gen PI 

 III, II, 898, 32. ■ ' 



Palms of moderate height, armed, caudex stout, annlate. Leaves 

 terminal, equally pinnate, with complete, basal, spiny sheaths j 

 midrib grooved on each side above attachment of the pinngej 

 pinnae strongly reduplicate, manjr-nerved, with scales and fine 

 bristles on the undersurface ; midvein with a few bristles on the 

 ripper surface. 



Flowers monoecious in spirally disposed 3-flowered clusters, 

 slightly immersed in the branches of a twice-branching slightly 

 drooping spadix, the female flower below and between two males. 

 Spathes two. Male flowers asymmetrical, trigonous-compressed. 

 Sepals small, orbicular, carinate, imbricate. Petals obliquely ovate 

 or ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, valvate. Stamens 6 or more, exsert- 

 ed, filaments free, elongate, cylindric, acute at the apex, incurved j 

 anthers linear-oblong or globose, dorsifixed, versatile. Pistillode 

 elongate-conical or 2-3-fid. Female flowers smaller, broadly ovate- 

 Sepals ovate-orbicular, concave, broadly imbricate, petals as long as 

 the sepals, orbicular, striate-nervose. Staminodes obscure. Ovary 

 obovoid-oblong, straight or curved, l-(or 2-3-) locular; stigma 

 subapiculate, ovule parietal, pendulous. 



Fruit small, globose or oblong, terete or compressed, stigmas 

 lateral or subbasilar ; mesocarp thin fibrous ; endocarp subcrustaceous. 

 Seed oblong, ascending, laterally slightly compressed; branches 

 of the raphe spreading from the hilum, and anastomosing on the 

 opposite side of the seed ; albumen homogenous ; embrj^o basilar. 



Species. — About 4. 



Distribution. — Mascarene Islands. 



Fruit globose A. ruhra. 



Fruit oblong-cj-lindric A. nohilis. 



