J674 CXLII. PALM^. [Hydnastele. 



2. H. iDouglasiana (after the Hon. John Douglass, O.M.G.), Bail. Ql. 

 Agric. Joiiin. i. A slender palm 20 to 30£t. high. Leaves about 6ft. long, the 

 sheath, petiole and rhachis covered with a whitish or brownish, harsh, scurfy 

 substance ; leaf-sheath rather short, petiole about 9in. ; segments about 20 on 

 each side of the rhachis, very irregularly placed, sometimes 2 or 3 together 

 forming distant sometimes confluent clusters ; ribs usually 3, sharply prominent, 

 folded and attached to the side of the rhachis, the apex of those in the middle of 



• the leaf obliquely and deeply jagged, often forming on one side a tooth or point 

 2in. long with a thread-like end, several of the terminal ones confluent forming a 

 fan-shaped end to the leaf — these have truncate doubly toothed ends. 

 Inflorescence below the leaves, a densely bunched flagelliform panicle ; the 

 •common peduncle flat, about lin. long, the primary branches very short and flat, 

 the rhachis of the spikes flattened, slender, and about 1ft. long. The dried 

 perianth under the fruit cup-shaped, about 2 lines diameter, the inner segments 

 rotund and strongly striate. Fruit red, ovoid, SJ lines long, apiculate by the 

 persistent base of the style, strongly ribbed ; epicarp free from the thin endocarp, 

 albumen not ruminate. 



Hab.: Polo Creek, Somerset, Cape York Peninsula. 



This elegant palm is nearly allied to H. }Vendlmidiana, but does not fully agree with the 

 published description of that species. 



3. H. COStata (ribbed). Bail. Ql. Agri. Journ. ii. 129. The tree Mr. Jardine 

 had cut down for the specimens he sent me stood 87ft. high, the trunk 

 ■circumference being 41in. Leaves glabrous, except for a dense, close wool 

 which clothes the lower part of the petioles and sheaths ; sometimes a very slight 

 patch may be seen upon the rhachis. The rhachis above the 1 or 2ft. petiole 

 from 8 to lift, long, IJin. broad near the base, from which it tapers upwards, 

 the upper portion laterally compressed. Segments all free, the apical ones very 

 narrow and shortly decurrent but not confluent ; the lowest also very narrow and 

 •distant, about 60 on each side, those of the centre of the leaf 3ft. (not interrupted 

 as in H. Dowjlasiana, Bail.), folded and attached to the sides of the rhachis, 

 tapering to almost filiform ends. Inflorescence below the leaves, in a pendulous 

 -dense flagelliform panicle : the common peduncle about l^in. long, showing the 

 -scars from whence 2 or 5 bracts, or the spatha and 2 bracts, had fallen, the 

 portion of the peduncle which clasps the stem much thickened, primary branches 

 short, thick, flattened, or angular, the ultimate spikes 15 to 18in. long, densely 

 ■covered with fruit (no flowers seen). Perianth under the fruit about 2 lines 

 -di-imeter, segments broad, the inner ones twice as long as the outer ones, and 

 not so spreading as in H. Douglasiana. Fruit when dry oval-oblong, about 4 

 lines long, very dark and glossy, with many prominent light-coloured longitudinal 

 ribs, some of which are shorter than- the others. Embryo basal, erect, albumen 

 not ruminate. 



Hab.: Somerset, Cape York Peninsula, Frank L. Jardine. 



After a careful examination and comparison of the two latter species of this genus with 

 -a few dried fruits and a single leaf-segment, given to me by the late Baron Mueller of the 

 Ciiverpool Eiver tree, the one upon which the species was founded, and the description of same 

 by W. et D., I am fully convinced that they are specifically distinct from that species. In fruit, 

 li. Douglasiana, somewhat closely resembles H. Wendlandiana ; but there is a wide difference 

 in the foliage of both these and II. costata, the terminal segments of the first two being con- 

 fluent at the base, while in H. costata the leaf-segments are all free, and the fruit has much 

 more prominent ribs than the other species ; some of the ribs are thick, almost corky, their 

 liRht colour contrasting strongly with the dark, almost black, fruit (at least when dry). 

 The pretty red fruits of the other two species dry a pale colour. 



3. ARCHONTOPHCENIX, H. Wendl. and Drude. 

 (From arckonte, chief, and Fhanix, the date, in allusion to their majestic 



aspect and their relationship.) 

 Spadices infrafoliar. Flowers monoecious, spirally disposed 3-nate, the middle 

 •one female, or male solitary and 2-nate, bracts and obscure bracteoles. Male 



