THE PALMS OF BRITISH INDIA AND CEYLON. 527 



Drupe small, obovoid, |- inch long by about ^ inch in diameter, 

 black, base scarlet ; pulp thin. Seed ovoid, ^ inch long ; albumen 

 equable ; embryo basilar. 



Habitat. — Singapore: Kranji, Jurong ; Pahang : near Pekan; 

 Selangor : Klang ; Perak : Teluk Anson (ex Eidley) ; Borneo. 



Cultivated in India. 



Note. — G. lakha is very near the next species, C. renda, which 

 has an ovoid fruit abruptly constricted and a globose seed. 



CYRTOSTACHYS REND AH, Bl. Rumph II, 101. t. 120 ; Kth. Enum. 

 PI. Ill, 641. Sheft". in Ann. Jarcl. Bot. Buit. 1,126, 159; H. Wendl, in 

 Kerch. Palm, 242 ; List of Palms in Kew Rep., 1882 (1884), o5. — Bentinckia 

 renda, Mart., Hist. Nat. Palm, III, 316 ; Migiiel, Fl. Ind. Bat., Ill, 42 et 

 Prodr. Fl. Sum, 254 ; Walp. Ann., Ill, 467, V., 812.— .4;rc« erijthropoda, 

 Mig. in Joun.'vot. neerl. 1, p. 6, et Prodr. Fl. Simi.253, et 589. — Ptychosder- 

 vm coccinea, Hort. Lugd. Bat., Cat. pi. hort. bot. Bog. (1866) 69; Mig. De 

 Palm, 24. — Binanxj a purpurea, Hort. Bog. in Mig. Prodr. Fl. Sum. 590. 



Names. — Pinang rimbou, Pinang rendah or rende, Pinang Lem- 

 pianw (Sumatra) ; Sealing-wax Palm (English) ; Rotstammige 

 Renda-Palme (German). 



Description. — A gregarious palm. Stem above 30 feet high, 

 graceful, smooth, annulate. Leaves ^-^ feet long (excluding the 

 leaf-sheath) decrescent-pinnatisect ; petiole about 6 inches long. 

 Segments narrow lanceolate, the longer ones 28 inches long, 2 

 inches broad, acuminate ; the terminal segments shorter, bidentate 

 or shortly bifid, or subobtuse. 



Spathes : 2 complete, 2 incomplete. Flowers crowded, 1 female 

 between 2 males. Stamens 12-15. Ovary unilocular, 1-ovuled, 

 sometimes the rudiments of a second or third loculus are found ; 

 ovule pendulous from the tip of the cell ; stigmas subulate. 



Fruit ovoid, at the apex abruptly apiculate, 2/5 inch long, \ inch 

 broad. Seed round, about 1/5 inch in diameter, adherent to the 

 endocarp ; hilum apical ; albumen equable ; embrj'o basilar. 



Habitat.— Sumatra. 



Cultivation in Europe. — -This and the foregoing species are 

 stove-palms. They grow in a compost of loam, peat, and leaf soil, 

 in equal parts, with a liberal addition of sand. When they are fully 

 grown, they prefer about two-thirds of loam and some rotten cow- 

 manure. The seeds germinate in a compost similar to the one 

 mentioned, when they are placed in a moist gentle heat. 



Illustration. — Plate LXXIII shows a fine tuft of Sealing-wax 

 palms (Gyrtostacliys rendali) in the Botanic Gardens of 

 Peradeniya. The photograph was taken by Mr. Macmillan. 



PTYGHOSPEEMA, Labill. in Mem. Inst. Paris, 1808, IX, 253. 



(Etym. : From the Greek " ptyche, " a fold or winding, and 

 "sperma," seed; alluding to the ruminated albumen.) 



