Didymosperma.} chxiii. vaimem. (Beccari & Hook, f.) 421 



Assam ; Daphla hills, Booth. 



Stem 2 ft., about as thick as a. duck's quill. Leaves 8-18 in,, rachis and petiole 

 very slender j leaflets 1-3 J in. long and broad, white beneath. Spadiao fruiting, 8 in. , 

 sheathed below the middle with narrow long terete glabrous striate spathes ; lateral 

 branches (or spikes) 3 in., terminal 4 in. long. Fruit J by -^ in. dlam. rather curved. 

 Seed -I in. long, equally narrowed at both obtuse ends ; raphe very obscure ; albumen 

 equable. — Apparently a very distinct species, found by Mr. Booth, Mr. Nuttall's 

 collector in Assam. 



12. AKENGA, Lahill. 



Tall stout palms, flowering first from an npper leaf-axil, and succes- 

 sively from lower ; trunk densely clothed above with fibrous remains of the 

 leaf-sheaths. Leaves terminal, long, pinnatisect ; leaflets long, linear, 

 usually praemorse, unicostate, base 1-2-auricled. Spathes many, clothing 

 the peduncle of the spadix. Spadices interfoliar, large, much branched, 

 peduncle short deourved, branches slender pendulous; male and fern. 

 flowers usually solitary and in separate spadices, rarely 3-nate a fern, 

 between 2 males. Malefl. symmetric ; sepals orbicular, imbricate ; petals 

 oblong, valvate; staoiens numerous, filaments short, anthers apiculate ; 

 pistillode 0. Fern. fi. subglobose ; sepals accrescent ; petals triangular, 

 valvate; stamiitodes many or 0; ovary subglobose, 3-celled, stigmas conic. 

 JVaii obovoidly globose, 2-3-seeded; stigmas terminal. Seeds compressed 

 or plano-convex ; albumen equable ; embryo dorsal.— Species about 10, trop. 

 Asia, Malaya and Australia. 



1. A. saccharifera, Lahill. in Mem,. Inst. Fr. iv. 209; trunk tall 

 very stout, leaflets 4-f'ariously fascicled linear lobed and variously toothed 

 towards the tip, base 1-2-auricled white beneath, male buds obtuse. Mart. 

 Hist. Nat. Palm. 191, t. 108 and 161, f. 4; Miq. FL Ind. Bat. iii. 35; 

 Kurz For. Fl.ii.h'i^; Griff, in Calc. Journ. Nat. Hist. v. 472; Palms 

 Brit. Ind. 164, t. 135 A. A. Grifiithii, Seem, ex JS. Wendl. in Kerchov. 

 Palm. 232. Saguerus Kumphii, Boxb. FL Ind. iii. 626. S. saccharifer, 

 Wurmb. Verh. Bat. Genoostseh. i. 350 ; Blume, Bumphia, ii. 128, t. 123-4. 

 Gomutus saccharifer, Spreng. Syst. ii. 622. Borassus Gomutus, Lour. FL 

 Oochinch. ii. 759. 



Assam, Peq-u, Buema, and the Malat PENiNstfLA. — Distbib. E. Asia and 

 Malaya. 



Trunk 20-40 ft. Leaves very many, 20-28 ft. ; leaflets up to 115 on each side, 

 3-5 ft. long, subsessile, linear, coriaceous, costa stout, scurfy beneath j petiole scurfy. 

 Male spadix 4-5 ft., simply branched, flowers oblong-clavate purple 1 in. long and 

 less. Fern. fl. solitary, 1 in diam. Fruit 2-2^ in. long, oblong-turbinate, base 

 narrowed, top rounded or depressed. 



2. A. obtusifolia, Mart. Hist Nat. Palm. 191, t. 147, 148, 161; 

 trunk tall very stout, leaflets bifarious linear narrowed and truncate 

 2-lobed or toothed at the tip white beneath, base 1- or ex-auricled, male 

 buds acute. Miq. FL Ind. Bat. iii. 36. A. Westerhoutii, Qriff. in Gale. 

 Journ. Nat. Hist. v. 474 ; Palms Brit. Ind. 166, t. 235 B,_ 0, D ; Mart: I. c. 

 192 ; Miq. I. c. 37. Saguerus Langkab, Blume Bumph. ii. 131, t. 96, 126. 

 Gomutus ob'tusifolius, Blume mss. 



Penanq-, Lewes. Malay PEWlNSULi, at Kaning, Westerhout. 

 Very nearly allied to A. saceJiarifera, distinguished by the arrangement of the 

 leaflets, which according to Griifith are bifarious with deflexed tips, the upper alone 



