524 JO URNAL, B 0MB A Y NA TUBAL HIST. SO CIETY, Vol. XXIII. 



Distribution. — New Zealand, Norfolk Island. 



Flowers purplish lilac, drupe oblong... ... E. sapida. 



Flowers white, drupe globose ... ... Pi. haiieri. 



BHOPALOSTYLIS SAPID A, H. Wendl. and Drude in Kerch. Palm, 

 255 ; Cheesma New Zeal. FL, lAQ.—Kentia savida, Mart., Hist. Nat. Palm. 

 Ill, 312 ; Drude, Palmse in Nat. Pflanzenf ., IT., 3, 7^.—Areca scqjida, Soland, 

 ex Forst. Plant, esctil, 66 ; Ferd., Bauer lUustr. plant, Norfolk, t. 179, 180, 

 202, 208, in Museo Oaes. Vindobon asservatse ; Mart., Hist. Nat. Palm, III, 

 172, t. 151, 152 ; A. Rich. Fl. Nouv. Zel., 157 ; A. Cunn., Precur. n. 298 ; 

 Raoul, Choix, 40 ; Hook., f . Fl. Nov. Zel., I, 262, t. 59, 60. Handb., N. Z. 

 Fl., 288 ; Bot. Mag., t. 5139. Areca banksii, AUan Ounn. MS. 



Name.— Nikan Palm (English); Schmackhafte Nikan Palme 

 (German). 



Description.— Stem rather slender, smooth, 10-25 feet high, 6-9 

 inches in diameter, rarely more. Leaves 4-8 feet long ; rhachis 

 clothed with copious lepidote scales ; leaflets very numerous, 2-3 

 feet long or more, 1-2 inches broad, linear-ensiform ; midrib and 

 main veins covered with lepidote scales ; margins replicate at 

 the base. 



Spadix 1-2 feet long, much and closely branched, glabrous ; 

 spathes 2 or 3. Flowers very densely crowded, purplish-lilac. 

 Drupe ^ inch long, elliptic-oblong, bright-red. 



Habitat. — New Zealand. North Island, abundant in forests 

 throughout ; South Island, in low land districts not far from the 

 coast as far south as Banks Pennisula and Hokitika, rare and local ; 

 Chatham Islands sea-level to 2,000 feet. (The Nikau-palm is the 

 most southern member of its order). 



Flowers. — From January to April. 



Uses. — The unexpanded central bud and the very young spadix 

 are both edible, and were formerly eaten by the Maoris, and even 

 by European settlers. 



BHOPALOSTYLIS BAUEBI, H. Wendl. and Drude in Bot. Zeitg., 

 XXXV (1877) 638; Cheesem, New Zeal. Fl., 74Q.—Kentia baueri, Seem., Fl. 

 Vit., 269 ; Cheesem., in Trans. N. Z. Inst., XX (1888), 174.— ^reca baueii, 

 Hook, f . in Illustr. Hist., XV. (1868), 575 ; Bot. Mag., t. 5735.— ^reca sapida, 

 Endl. Prodr. Fl. Norfolkicee 26 (not of Soland)— ^Sm/oram robusta, RoUis 

 (accord, to Salomon, Die Palmen). 



Name.— Norfolk Betel Palm (English); Bauers Nikau Palme 

 (German). 



Description. — Larger and stouter than the foregoing species, 

 sometimes attaining a height of 50 feet and a diameter of over 12 

 inches. Leaves larger and more numerous, 6-9 feet long, pinnate ; 

 rhachis beneath, costa and nerves at back of the pinuls sparingly 

 clothed with furfuraceous scales. Pinnales close-set, two feet long, 

 1 ^ inch broad, stiff", acuminate, usually 3-nerved, ribbed and plaited ; 

 rhachis triangular towards the base, convex above. 



