PALMAE 121 



4. S. scroblculata Nees.' 



A stout, loosely tufted, glabrous perennial, the stems up to 1.5 m in 

 height, scabrid on the angles. Leaves numerous, 12 to 30 cin long, about 

 1 cm wide, sometimes narrower, margins scabrous, the upper ones falsely 

 opposite or ternate, the sheaths triangular, scabrid. Panicles 15 to 20 cm 

 long, the partial ones 5 to 10 cm long, spreading or ascending. Spikelets 

 brownish-purple, numerous, about 5 mm long, scattered or slightly clustered. 

 Nut white, globose, rugose, 2.5 to 3 mm in. diameter. 



In thickets, La Loma, fl. most of the year; widely distributed in the 

 Philippines. Malay Peninsula to New Guinea. 



14. DIPLACRUM R. Brown 



A small, tufted, glabrous annual with leafy stems, the leaves linear. 

 Spikelets in small, dense, axillary clusters at the mouths of the leaf -sheaths, 

 small, unisexual. Male spikelets 1- or 2-flowered, the glumes about 3, 

 narrow, thin. Female spikelets 1-flowered, the glumes distichous, the lower 

 ones boat-shaped, empty, the upper oblong, 3-lobed, many-veined, the middle 

 lobe stout, the lateral one short, incurved. Nut smooth, white, fluted 

 longitudinally; style slender; stigmas 3. 



A monotypic genus. 



1. D. caricinum R. Br. (Scleria caricina Benth.). 



A slender tufted plant 5 to 15 cm high, glabrous or nearly ^o. Leaves 

 1 to 4 cm long, acute, narrow. Heads sessile, axillary, less than 5 mm in 

 diameter. Female spikelets 3 to 4 mm long, the nut globose, about 1 mm 

 in diameter. 



In old rice-paddies and fallow lands. La. Loma, rare, fl. Nov.-Dec; of 

 local occurrence in the Philippines. India to China, Malaya, and Australia. 



15, PALMAE (Palm or Anahao Family) 



Erect shrubs or trees, slender or very large, sometimes climbing, naked 

 or spiny. Stems unbranched, cylindric. Leaves alternate, at the ends 

 of the stems, palmate, pinnate, or bipinnate, the petioles sheathing. FloWr 

 ers small, 1- or 2-sexual in panicles or spikes (spadices) that are often 

 more or less enclosed by one or more large sheathing bracts (spathes). 

 Perianth-segments 6, in 2 series, usually all free, imbricate or valvate. , Sta- 

 mens 3 to 6, sometimes more. Ovary 1- to 3-celled, or of 3 1-celled carpels, 

 superior; stigmas 3, usually sessile; ovules 1 or 2 in each cell. Fruit 

 a 1 to 3-celled drupe, or berry-like with 1 to 3 carpels. 



Genera 150, species about 1,350, chiefly tropical, 21 genera and over 

 100 species in the Philippines. 



1. Leaves orbicular, palmately lobed. 



2. Inflorescence axillary, pendulous or spreading... 1. Livistona 



2. Inflorescence a very large, terminal, erect panicle 2. Corypha 



1 Leaves bipinnate; leaflets obliquely rhomboid to lanceolate, strongly 

 inequilateral 3- Caryota 



1. Leaves simply pinnate. 

 2. Slender climbing palms, the younger parts armed with spines, also 

 bearing long, retrorsely armed flagellae., 4. Calamus 



