PALMAE 123 



3, connate below. Stamens 6. Ovary 3-lobed, 3-celled. Fruit globose, 

 drupaceous. (Greek "summit," in allusion to the inflorescence.) 

 Species about 6 in tropical Asia and Malaya, 1 in the Philippines. 



i. C. elata Roxb. Buri, Buli (Tag., Vis.). 



Trunk erect, straight, up to 0.7 m in diameter and 20 m high. Leaves 

 suborbicular, up to 3 m long, palmately split into about 100, lanceolate, 

 acuminate, 1.5 to 6 cm wide segments extending one-half to two-thirds to 

 the base; petioles very stout, about 3 m long, 20 cm thick at the base, 

 mapgins armed with very stout black spines. Inflorescence pyfamidal, up 

 to 7 m in height, the lower branches up to 3.5 long, the upper ones gradually 

 shorter, the ultimate branches up to 1 m in length. Flowers very nu- 

 merous, greenish-white, 6 to 6 mm in diameter. Fruit globose, fleshy, 

 2 to 2.5 cm in diameter, the seed hard, globose, 1.5 cm in diameter. 



Occasionally cultivated in Manila for ornamental purposes, our largest 

 palm; widely distributed in the Philippines. India to Malaya. 



3. CARYOTA Linnaeus 



Medium or stout palms with axillary inflorescences and few, large, 

 bipinnate leaves. Leaflets wedge-shaped to lanceolate, broad or narrow, 

 apex very oblique, variously toothed or incised. Inflorescence medium or 

 very large, the peduncles stout, decurved, the uppermost one developing 

 first. Sheathes (spathes) 3 to 5, small or large. Spadices fastigiately 

 branched, the branches pendulous. Flowers many, in threes, a ;female 

 between two males. Male flowers: Sepals 3, rounded. Petals 3, oblong, 

 valvate. Stamens 6 to many. Female flowers: Sepals and petals rounded. 

 Ovary 3-celled. Fruit small, globose, 1- or 2-seeded. (An ancient Greek 

 name for a kind of date.) 



Species about 12, tropical Asia, through Malaya to Australia, 4 or 5 in 

 the Philippines. 



Stamens 6, the flowers small; inflorescence less than 1 m long; leaves less 

 than 2 m long 1. C. cumingU 



Stamens about 40, the flowers rather large; inflorescence up to 2 m.long; 

 leaves up to 3.5 m long , 2. C. maxima 



1. Caryota cumingil Lodd. Pugahan, Taquipan (Tag.). 



A rather slender palm reaching a height of 5 m. Leaves scattered 

 along the upper part of the trunk, spreading, up to 1.5 m long; petiole 

 very short; pinnae about 10 on each side of the midrib, up to 1 m long; 

 leaflets numerous, up to 20 cm long, broad, flabelliform, 2 sides straight, 

 the apex obliquely truncate, irregularly and prominently toothed, obliquely 

 acuminate. Inflorescence axillary, pendulous, up to 80 cm long, the 

 peduncle about 3 cm in diameter, the spathes small, not exceeding 20 cm 

 in length. Spikes numerous, furfuraceous, slender, up to 50 cm long. Male 

 flowers dull-purplish and yellow, the petals about 6 mm long. Stamens 

 6. Fruit globose, purple, fleshy, containing a single globose seed. 



Occasionally cultivated, fl. continuously, from the upper axils first, until 

 exhausted; widely distributed in the Philippines. Endemic. 



2. C. maxima Blume. Pugahan, Taguipan (Tag.). 



Trunk stout, cylindric. Leaves large, bipinnate, up to 3.5 m long, 

 the petioles sheathing, their margins with stout black fibers; pinnae up 

 to 20 on each side of the midrib, the lower and middle ones up to 1.5 

 m long, shorter upward; leaflets numerous, 20 to 45 cm long,' flabellate 



