Fhcenix.] clxiii. faimbm. (Beccari & Hook, f.) 427 



Var. a, typica, Becc. I.e. 347, 379, t. 44, and ii. f. 22-24; stem short or mode- 

 rately long, leaflets elongate pale green in usually remote fascicles, fruiting 

 peduncle usually very long, fruit rather long, groove of seed very short. P. 

 humilis, Soi/le I.e. P. Ouseleyana, Oriff. in Cala. Journ. Nat. Hist. v. 347 ; Palms 

 Brit. Ind. 139. P. sylvestris ?, Wall. Gat. 8602 B.— Outer Himalaya, alt. 1-5000 ft., 

 from Kumaon eastwards. Assam (JenMns), the Khasia hills and Central India ; at 

 Chota Nagpore, Gal. Ouseley .—Gi-if&th describes P. Ouseleyana, from an Assam 

 specimen, as having the ovoid bulbous stem of P. acaulis, a foot long by 6 in. diam., 

 leaves 24-3 ft., leaflets very narrow indeed and strongly conduplicate 1 It. long by 

 (owing to the conduplication) % in. broad, lower spinescent, male spadiz 1 ft. rather 

 longer than the spathe, fern, spadix 2-2^ ft. much longer than its spathe with few 

 terminal long flexuose spikes, male fl. ^ in. long (in Sikklm specimen). The seeds 

 examined are from Sikkim, J-f in. long, with, a broad groove. 



Var. 3, Lourierii, Becc. I.e. 348, 379, t. 44, ii. f. 16, 17 ; stem short or very short,' 

 leaflets subglauoous often approximate mostly falciform, fruiting pednncle elongate, 

 fruit ovoid. P. Loureirii, Kunth lEnum. in, 257. P. pusilla, l/our. Fl. Gochinch. 

 614 (non. Gcertn.). P. Itoebelinii, O'Brien, in Gard. Chron. 1889, ii. 475, 758, 

 fig. 68. — Assam, the Khasia Hills, Burma, Munnipore, Cochin China. 



Var. 5, peduncu'ata, Becc. I.e. 379, 387, t. 44, f. 13-15, 18-21, 25-27 ; stem 

 short, pinnsB suhglaucous more or less fascicled, spathe 8 in. long, margin fringed, 

 fruiting peduncle very long, fruit small oblong-ovoid black, groove of seed usually 

 dilating into a canal. P. pedunculata. Palms Brit. Ind. 189. P. acaulis, Miq. PL 

 Hohen. Nilg. No. 1243. — Western Ghats, from the Concan southwards, ascending to 

 about 6000 ft. on the Nilghiri hills, Wight, &c. — Griffith describes this as soboli- 

 ferous, with leaves 4-5 ft., leaflets 1 ft., petiole bearing solitary or fascicled spines, 

 male spadix about a span long, fem. a little longer, with a very long fruiting 

 peduncle, fruit ^f in. by \-\ in. diam. — Mr. J. Steavenson {in Journ. Agric. 

 Sort. Soc. Madras, N.S. (1866), 337), observes that this is a graceful pale green 

 palm, with the stem never more than a foot or so high. The seeds described above 

 are from Nilghiri specimens and are J— J in. long. Specimens, presumably of this 

 var., sent by Mr. Talbot from N. Canara, have spathes 8 in. long, with a deep brown 

 fringe of matted woolly hairs ; fruit black ; seeds J-f in. long groove narrow hardly 

 dilated within. 



** Embryo basilar. 



7. "P. palxidosa,, Soxb. Mart. Beng. 75; Fl. Ind. 789; gregarious, 

 subarboreous, leaflets opposite and alternate bifarious ensiform with, filiform 

 tips whitish or farinose beneath, branches of spadix spreading, fruit ovoid 

 black. Mart. Hist. Nat. Palm. iii. 272, 320, t. 136 ; Ku?ith Enwm. iii. 

 256 ; Wall. Gat. 8603 ; Griff, in Gale. Journ. Nat. Hist. v. 353 ; Palms 

 Brit. Ind. 144, t. 229 A, B ; Eurz in Journ. As. Soc. Beng. xliii. ii. 202 ; For. 

 i^;. ii. 536; Brandts, For. Fl. 556; Gamble, Man. Ind. Tmb. 419. P. 

 siamensis, Miq. Palm. Arckip. Ind. 14. 



Aestuarial shores from Bed gal to Burma and the Andaman Islands — 

 DiSTEiB. Siam, Cochin China. 



Trunks 8-25 ft., often inclined, soboliferous, annulate, 12-18 in. diam. Leaves 

 8-10 ft., leaflets 1-2 ft. ; petiole 3-5 ft., slender, scurfy, with many long spines, 

 sheath fibrous. Male spadix with its peduncle 1\ ft., conpressed ; spathe as long, 

 scurfy; fem. spathe shorter ; male fl. J in. long; tern, subglobose with 6 staminodes. 

 Fruit \ in. long, mucronate, black purple when fully ripe. 



IMPBErECILT KNOWN SPECIES. 



8. P. robusta, Hoolc.f.; trunk 15-20 ft. as thick as a man's body 

 closely clothed and appearing tessellated from the sheaths of the fallen 

 leaves, leaves about 3 ft. long, leaflets fascicled quadrifarious strict. 



