THE PALMS OF BRITISH INDIA AXD CEYLON. 517 



ACANTHOPHCENIX RUBRA, Wendl. in Fl. des Serres, XVI., 181; 

 Baker Fl. Maurit and Seysh, 385.—Areca rubra, Bory Voy., I., 306 ; WiUd. 

 Spec, PI. IV., 596, n. 9 ; Poir. Encycl. Suppl. I., 441, n. 10 ; Spreng. Syst. 

 Veg., II., 139, n. 8; Mart. Hist. Nat. Palm, III., 180 (excl. descript 

 fructus). — Calamus verschaffeltia, Hort. 



Name. — Palmiste rouge (French). 



Rote Dornen-Areka (German). 



Description. — Stem 60 feet high. Leaf 6-12 feet long; petiole 

 glabrotis, 2-4 inches long; leaf-sheath 2i^-4^ feet long, thickly cover- 

 ed with long brown-black spines ; pinn^ slightly glaucous beneath, 

 (Young plants have dark-green leaves with red veins). 



Spadix 2^-3^ feet long; peduncle 6-10 inches long, like the 

 lower part of the branches armed with straight spines ; branches 

 stout, subtended by linear-lanceolate bracts; spathes l-f-2-^ feet 

 long, with a few straight spines on the inside near the base. 

 Perianth reddish-brown. 



Fruit globose, ^-f inch in diameter, with a prominent ridge ex- 

 tending from the stigma to the base. 



Habitat. — Mauritius, rare, Bourbon. Cultivated in gardens. 



Cultivation in Europe. — A very elegant stove palm. It 

 requires a light sandy soil and a temperature of 65° — 80° in 

 summer, and 55° — 65° in winter. Propagation is effected by 

 seeds only, which germinate best in a moist bottom heat, and a 

 well decomposed compost of one part loam, one of peat, one of 

 leaf-mould, and the remainder of sand. They may be left in this 

 soil for two or three years. 



ACANTHOPHCENIX NOBILIS, Benth. and Hook. f. in Gen. PI. Ill, 

 II, 398, 32— Beckenia nobilis, Wendl. in Gard.Chron., 1870, p. 561 ; Balf. f. 

 in Baker Fl. Maurit. 



Names. — French : Chou palmiste. German : Vornehme Dornen- 

 Areka. 



Description. — 80-120 feet high, 10-14 inches in diameter. 

 Leaves 9-14 feet long ; petiole 1 foot long, pale green, smooth; 

 sheath 3-6 feet long, usually spiny ; leaflets hairy beneath, bristly 

 on both surfaces when young ; midrib yellow. 



Spadix 2-6 feet long, shortly peduncled, slightly amplexicaul ; 

 branches very slender, pendulous ; peduncle verticall)^ compressed, 

 much thickened at the base. Spathes 2, complete, seldom over 1 

 foot long, densely covered with flexu.ose yellow black-tipped spines. 



Male flowers. — Perianth minute, the inner segments ovate, acute, 

 valvate. Stamens 9, connate, equal in length to the inner 

 segments ; anthers globose. ]:^istillode and angular trifid column. 

 Female flowers. — Segments of perianth imbricate. Stamens repre- 

 sented by a minute-toothed cup. 



Fruit oblong-cylindric, ^ inch long, ^ inch thick, black. Stigma 

 Bubbasilar ; mesocarp fibrous ; endocarp crustaceous. Seed erect ; 



