Nipa.| PALME. | 541 
extrorse. Females: perianth reduced to a fewscales. Ovary of 
8 distinct angular carpels obliquely truncate ; stigmas sessile, soli- 
tary, excentrical. Drupes woody, angular-turbinate, 1-seeded, the 
mesocarp woody-fibrous; putamen woody, penetrating and length- 
wise excavating the seed. Albumen homogeneous, horny, hollow 
in the centre. Embryo basal.—Almost stemless or short-stemmed 
soboliferous palms, with pinnate leaves, not armed. Drupes woody, 
in large globose terminal heads. 
1. N. fruticans, Wurmb.—Da-ne.—An evergreen large soboli- 
ferous almost stemless or short-stemmed palm (the trunk very 
thick), all parts quite glabrous ; leaves pinnate, 15 to 30 ft. long, 
the petiole 4 to 5 ft. long, very strong and thick ; pinnae 4-5 ft. 
long, linear, subulate-acuminate, rigid, plaited, one-ribbed, with 3 
lateral ribs along the plaits and one marginal one along the one 
margin ; spadix erect, terminal, monoecious, covered with numerous 
smooth brown spathes, growing up to 4 to 7 ft. in height, the 
peduncle 3-5 ft. long, the lateral branchings bearing the males 
collected in dense short-peduncled thick catkins, the central erect 
one terminated by a head of naked large ovaries ; drupes unequally 
angular-turbinate, 4 to 6 in. long, densely crowded in a large head, 
smooth, chestnut-brown, fibrous-woody, containing a large fibrous- 
woody ovoid-globose L-seeded putamen ; albumen horny and hard, 
snow-white. 
Has.—Common along the estuaries of the rivers, and in tidal forests all 
song Ms shores, from Chittagong down to Tenasserim and the Andamans.—s.— 
Remarxs.—The leaves used extensively for thatching; the seeds might be 
used for vegetable ivory. 
LILIACEA. 
_ _ Flowers usually regular, hermaphrodite or unisexual. Perianth 
inferior, petal-like, 6-parted or 6-toothed, very rarely 3-lobed. 
Stamens 6, very rarely 3, inserted at the base of the perianth- 
segments or in the tube. Ovary free, superior, 3-celled, very rarely 
mecompletely so, with several or a single ovule in each cell; style 
A lar 
distinct orders, such as Melanthacee and Smilacea. ‘The well-known 
onion, garlik, leek and asparagus belong to this family. The woody 
roots of Cordyline Ti are baked and afford an important part of the 
food of a Sandwich Islander. Aloes and squills are used medicinally, 
