40 Memoirs Bcrnicc P. Bishop Museum. 



Pritchardia affinis var. rhopalocarpa Becc. 

 ( Plates IV. i?; XXII. Z. i 



Description. — It attains a considerable heiglit and has a slender stem 

 Lcai'cs as in type: segments with drooping, very long filamentose apices; their 

 lower surfaces paler than the ui:)per, not pulverulent-waxy, and dotted w'wh very 

 few small, punctiform lepidia. Petiole 3.5 cm. broad at apex; ligula oblong 

 rounded at apex, base of the blade and mid-costas strongly woolly, especially on 

 the lower surface. Fructiferous branchlets subterete with subulate apices. Young 

 and half mature fruits are obovate-clavate, being, in that period of growth dis- 

 tinctly narrowed to the base; the thoroughly mature fruits, however, are globose 

 oblong, or slightly longer than broad and not narrowed to the base, 25 mm. long, 

 20-22 mm. through, of a shiny violescent black color. Apparently in the last 

 stage of maturity, the mesocarp thickens at the base more than elsewhere, so 

 as to render obsolete the general obovoid shape of the young fruit; the mesocarp 

 of tile mature fruit is slightly bluish, and has a sweet taste. Pruitiu'^ pcriantJi 

 as in type. 



Habitat. — The type specimens of this varietv were gathered on the Island 

 of Hawaii, from a plant which was growing on the seashore of South Kona at 

 a i)lace called Xapoopoo, near the native temple where the English Captain Cook, 

 who discovered the group of the Hawaiian Islands, was murdered ( Rock Xo. 

 12779). Others of Rock's typical specimens bear the Xo. 12780, and come from 

 a grove of palms situated at an elevation of several hundred up to 1000 feet, in 

 Kona, above Kilauea, also in Hawaii. 



Observations. — Rock remarks that this variety is very frequentlv cultivated 

 in Honolulu, and that it is quite likely its seeds were sent there from Kona, 

 where these palms are quite numerous ; and I think the specimens of a palm 

 (Rock X'o. 12001) growing in Mrs. A\'. Lanz's premises on Punahou street 

 (Honolulu) are referable to it; of this Professor Rock has sent me a fine photo- 

 graph, showing spadices about as long, or only a little shorter, than the petioles 

 and composed of three superposed partial inflorescences. To the same variety 

 belongs also a plant growing at Queen Liliuokalani's residence at \\'aikiki (Rock 

 Xo. 12G06). The specimens have immature fruits which are distinctly clavate- 

 oblong. 



It seems to me difficult to separate sharply Pr. affinis var. rhopalocarpa 

 from the tvpe. The wild specimens of the variety differ, however, fn>ni the typi- 

 cal Pr. affinis in the leaves having very few and very small lepidia im the lower 

 surface, and in the more or less obovoid, or subclavate fruit. I am not certain if 

 the tvpical Pr. affi)iis has the spadix composed of 3 partial inflorescences, as seems 

 to be the normal case with the variety. 



Pritchardia affinis var. gracilis Becc. 



Description. — A rather small palm, only 3-4 m. high. Lcaz'cs smaller, 

 otherwise as in type, but devoid of lepidia on the lower surface; the cost;e are 



