THE PALMS 01 BRITISH mDIA AND CEYLON. 519 



Fruit small, globose ; stigmas lateral or snbbasal ; pericarp 

 rnmose or subfibrous, endocarp thinly crustaceons. Seed globose 

 or subgiobose ; raphe broad ; albumen deeply ruminate ; embryo 

 near the hilum. 



Species. — About 6. 



Distribution.— Tropical Asia. 



Cultivation in Europe. — Stove Palms. They grow best in a 

 compost of two parts loam, one of peat, and one of sand. A liberal 

 supply of water is required. Propagation is effected by seeds or 

 suckers. 



ONCOSPERMA FASCICULATUM Thw. Enmn. -328 (1864). Hook, 

 Fl. Brit. Ind., VI., 415. Trimen, Fl. Ceylon, IV, 323 ; Scheff. in Ann. fard. 

 Buitenz., I, 160. — Caryota horrida, Moon, Cat. 64 (non Willd.). 



Name. — Katu-Kitul (Ceylon). 



Description. — Trunk 30-50 feet high, 5-6 inches in diameter, 

 copiously armed with long, flexible, black, compressed spine, base 

 thickened, stoloniferous. Leaves 8 feet long; leaflets 12-18 inches 

 long, 1-lf inch broad, fascicled, lanceolate, caudateacuminate, tips 

 drooping, scurfy beneath ; rhachis scurfy ; petiole spinous towards 

 the base, sheath 2\ feet, spinous, scurfy, 



Spathes sparingly scurfj?-, unarmed, inner 2-crested. Spadix 2 

 feet long, unarmed, paniculately branched ; peduncle very stout, 

 branches drooping. Male flowers |- inch long, densely imbricate ; 

 sepals very small ; petals acute, striate ; stamens 9 ; filaments short, 

 broad, fleshy ; anthers linear. Female flowers scattered, ^ inch in 

 diameter. Sepals thick, forming a broadly 3-lobed cup ; petals 

 hardly longer than the sepals, coriaceous, broader than long. 



Fruit globose, ^ inch in diameter, black or purple, like large 

 black currants. 



Habitat. — Ceylon. Steep forests in moist region, 1-5,000 feet; 

 rather common. (Endemic in Ceylon.) 



Flowers in February and March. 



ONCOSPERMA HORRIDUM, Scheff. in Natunrk. Fijdsch. Ned. Ind,, 

 XXXII, 189 ; Ann., fard. Buitenz, I, 159. Areca homda, Griff, in Oalc. 

 Fowm. Nat. Hist., V, 465. Palms Brit. Ind. 158—2330 ; Mart., Hist. Nat, 

 Palm, III., 312. Hook., Fl. Brit. Ind., VI., 515. Areca nihune, Mart., Hist. 

 Nat. Palm, 173, t. 150, f. 4. 



Name. — Bhyass (Malay Peninsula) ; Bijass-Palnie (German). 



Description. — Trunk 30-40 feet high, sending oJEf stolons at the 

 base, annulate; spaces between the rings much anned. Crown 

 rather thin. Leaves 14-16 feet long, 5 feet broad, spreading in every 

 direction. Sheaths leathery, 2 feet long, much armed. Petiole 

 bearing leaflets nearly from the base, green, stout, flattened at the 

 base, compressed at the apex, otherwise trigonal, covered with brown 

 irregular scales, armed throughout, but specially underneath, with 

 black-brown flat not very strong spines. Pinnules 2-3 feet long, 



