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



Fruit cylindrico-conic, f-| inches long. Young plants bright 

 orange. 



Habitat. — Eodriguez, common. 



Illustration, — The beautiful specimen of Diotyos^yerma album,. 

 var. aureum reproduced on Plate LXXVII, grows in the Sibpur 

 Botanic Gardens, and its photograph was kindly supplied by Major 

 Gage. 



ARGHONTOPHCENIX. Wendl. & Crude, in Linntea, XXXIX,. 

 182, 190, 211, t, 3, f, 6. 



(Etyni : From the Greek " archon '', ruler, king, and "phcenix",. 

 palm, in allusion to their majestic aspect and their relationship,) 



Mart,, Hist. Nat. Palm, II, 181 (non, t, 105, 106, 109utihabent,. 

 Benth. & Hook, Gen. PI,).— F. Mueller, Frag. Phyt. Austr., V, 47, 

 t. 4S, M (PtycJiosperma). — Benth,, Fl, Austr,, VII, 141 (Ptychos- 

 perma, sp. n. 2, 3), — Bot. Mag., t, 4961 {SeafoHMa, excl. fig, 9, 10 

 11),— Benth, & Hook, Gen, PI, III, 11,889, 15.— Bailey, Queensl, 

 FL, V, 1674. 



Stem high and slender, columnar, unarmed, strongi)' annulate.. 

 Leaves terminal, equally pinnatisect, forming a dense crown j: 

 segments linear-lanceolate, acuminate, or bidentate at the apex, the 

 margins recurved at the base ; rhachis convex on the back, carinate- 

 on the upper side ^ petiole canaliculate on the upper side ; sheath 

 elongate, cjdindric, 



Spadices shortly pedunculate, thrice divided, branches and branch- 

 lets flexuose, slender, pendulous, glabrous ; spathes 2, complete,, 

 elongate, complanate, cadu.cous ; bracts semilunar ; bracteoles per- 

 sistent. Flowers monoecious, spirally arranged, ternate, the median 

 one female, or solitary and binate males, bracteate and obscurely 

 bracteolate. Male flowers asymmetrical. Sepals 3, small, triangu- 

 lar, rotundate, carinate, imbricate. Petals 3, obliquely ovate-oblong, 

 subacute, valvate. Stamens 9-24 ; filaments slender, connate at the 

 base, inflexed at the apex ; anthers linear, bifid at the base, dorsifixed,. 

 versatile. Pistillode styliform. Female flowers smaller than the 

 male, subglobose. Sepals 3, orbiculai', convolute -imbricate. Petals 

 similar, but smaller, Staminodes 6, subulate, or ovary trigonous- 

 ovoid, 1-locular; stigmas 3, minute, recurved; ovule parietal. 



Fruit small, globose-ellipsoid, umbonate by the subterminal stig- 

 mas ; pericarp fibrous ; endocarp very thin. Seed erect, closely 

 adhering to the endocarp, smooth ; hilum lateral, elongate ; bran- 

 ches or raphe reticulate ; albumen deeply ruminate ; embryo basilar.. 



Species : — 4. 



Distribution, — Tropical and subtropical, East Australia. 



