530 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXIII. 



Trunk tall, erect, cjdindric, annulate ; leaves pinnatisect, leaflets 

 linear, obliquely truncate, reduplicate-plicate. 



Spathes 2, cymbiforni. Spadix infrafoliar, monoecious, branched 

 Flowers ternate, mostly in clusters of a female between 2 males 

 spirally arranged round the branches. Male flowers : sepals 3 

 orbicular, imbricate petals 3, much larger, ovate, valvate ; stamens 

 9-1 2 ; filaments very short ; anthers subversatile, pistillode minute, 

 ovoid. Female flowers smaller than the male, subglobose ; sepals 

 orbicular, broadly imbricate, persistent ; petals ovate, broadly 

 imbricate, tips valvate, staminodes obsolete ; ovar}^ 1-celled, stigmas 

 3, minute, ovtile parietal. 



Fruit subglobose, cuspidately beaked ; stigmas, terminal ; endosp- 

 erm ruminate ; embryo subbasilar. 



Species — 1. Endemic in Cejdon, 



LOXOCOCCUS RUPICOLA, Wendl. and Drude in Linnaja, XXXIX, 185 

 (1875) ; Hook. f. in Bot. Mag., t. 6358. — Etychosperma rupicola, Thw. Enum. 

 328, C. P. 2732. — Caryota mitis (?), Moon, Oat. 64. — Kentia rwpicola, Bull, 

 ex Salomon, p. 78. 



Names. — Dotalu (Ceylon) ; Felsen-Krummnuss (German). 



Description. — Trunk 30-40 feet high, 4-5 inches in diameter, 

 dull green, base swollen, soboliferous. Leaves about 10, 6-8 feet 

 long, 3-4 feet broad, spreading; petiole 1-1|- feet long with a short 

 green sheathing base; leaflets 12-20 pairs, rather distant, spreading 

 and deciu^ved, sessile, linear, tip obliquely truncate and notched, 

 bright green above, glaucous and sparsely furfuraceous beneath, 

 terminal one or two pairs confluent. 



Lower spathe 12 inches long, narrowl}^ cymbiform, coriaceous, 

 pale-brown, dotted with peltate furfm^aceons scales. Spadix 12 

 inches long, triangular in outline, coral red, quite smooth ; peduncle 

 short, stout annulate ; branches erecto-patent. Flowers blood-red, 

 male flowers about -^ inch in diameter ; filaments stout, equalling 

 the linear anthers, pistillode minute, trifid. Female flowers ovoid ; 

 ovary obliquely ovoid ; ovule pendulous. 



Fruit about | inch in diameter, smooth, blood red; sarcocarp 

 fibrous. 



Habitat. — On cliffs and rocks in the moist region of Ceylon, from 

 1,000-5,000 feet; rather common. (Endemic in Ceylon.) 



Flowers in February, 



Uses. — The seed is used for mastication with betel, like that of 

 the Arecas. 



Cultivation in Europe. — An elegant stove-palm. It thrives in a 

 compost of loam, peat, and leaf soil, in equal parts, with a liberal 

 addition of sand. When it is fully grown, loam should constitute 

 about two-thirds of the compost ; some rotten cow-manure may be 

 added. Propagated by seeds. These require a compost similar to 

 the one mentioned and must be put in a moist gentle heat. 



