Borassus.] CXLII. PALM^E. 1687 



the sepals, obovate-spathulate, imbricate ; stamens 6, anthers subsessile, large,, 

 oblong ; pistillodes of 3 bristles. Female flowers larger, globose ; perianth 

 fleshy, greatly accresent ; sepals reniform, imjbricate ; petals smaller, convolute ;. 

 staminodes 6 to 9 ; ovary globose, subtrigonous, entire or 2 or 4-partite, 3 or 

 4-celled ; stigmas 3, sessile recurved ; ovules basilar erect. Fruit a large- 

 subglobose drupe with 1 to 3 obcordate fibrous pyrenes ; pericarp thinly fleshy ;; 

 stigmas terminal. Seeds oblong, -top 3-16bed ; testa adherent to the pyrene ; 

 albumen equable hollow ; embryo subapica'l. — A very tall palm ; trunk stout,. 

 unarmed. Leaves terminal, fan-shaped, plicately multifid ,- petiole spinous, ligula. 

 short.— Hook. Fl. Brit. Ind. vi. 481. 



1. B. flabellifer (fan-formed or fan-bearing), Linn. Palmyra Palm, 

 Trunk 60 to 70ft., very rarely branching, often swollen above the middle. Leaves. 

 6 to 10ft. diameter, palmately fan-shaped, rigidly coriaceous ; segipents 2 to 4ft., 

 linear, 2-fid margins spinulose. Spadix male and female several feet long and 

 very stout. Male flowers small; female lin. diameter. Drupe broadly obovoid, 

 brown, Bin. diameter. — Hook. I.e. 



Hab.: Cape York Peninsula. 



For the Australian habitat of this noble palm I am entirely dependent upon Mr. Frank L- 

 Jardine, who has a male tree growing near his house at Somerset, which he tells me he brought 

 when it was quite young from a locality upon the Peninsula forty miles from the coast. He 

 says there was quite a clump of the palms, some having very thick stems, but the one he 

 brought away with him was the only young plant he saw. At the present time the tree stands 

 between 20 and 30ft. high and from the numerous forked spikes of old inflorescence scattered 

 upon the ground around the tree, it must flower freely. The petioles of the leaves of this tree 

 are bi-oad, pale-coloured, and the marginal prickles scanty and small. The home of this grand 

 palm is generally considered to be Tropical Africa, although it has been long cultivated in India, 

 where its leaves are used for writing on and for basketwork, umbrellas, &c. The outer wood is 

 hard, heavy, and durable, and is said to weiyh from 60 to 701b. per cubic foot. The pulp of the 

 fruit is eaten, and the sap is fermented into toddy or made into sugar. 



15. COCOS, Linn. 



(From the Portuguese word coco ; the end of the nut resembling a 



monkey's head.) 



Flowers monoecious in the same spadix, the upper ones male and densely 

 crowded, the lower females few. Male perianth : Outer Segments 3, imbricate, 

 inner 3 much longer, valvate. Stamens 6, with thick filaments ; anthers erect 

 but attached above the base. Ovary rudimentary. Female perianth : Segments 

 all nearly equal, broad, imbricate. Ovary 3-celled, with 1-erect ovule in each 

 cell but 2 usually abortive. Stigmas B, at first erect, at length spreading. Drupe 

 large, ovoid or oblong, with a thick fleshy and fibrous exocarp ; endocarp bony^ 

 marked at the base with 8 pits. Seed solitary, enveloped in pulp ; hilum lateral ; 

 albumen not ruminate. Embryo basal. — Tall palms, the stem marked with 

 annular scars and long retaining the scale-like base of the petioles. Leaves in a 

 terminal crown, simply pinnate with numerous longitudinally plicate segments, 

 Inflorescence from the base of the leaves, the spadix with numerous long simple 

 branches. Spatha long and woody, with an open outer bract. 



The genus comprises several South American species besides the Australian one, which is 

 common in tropical Asia, chiefly near the seacoast, and is spread by cultivation over the tropical 

 regions of the New as well as the Old World. 



1. C. nucifera (nut-bearing), Linn.; Kunth. Eniim. iii. 285; Benth. Fl- 

 Austr. vii. 142. Cocoa-nut Palm. " Cooreemboola," Mackay, Macartney- 

 Often 70 to 80ft. Leaves 12 to 16ft. long with numerous rigid segments. 

 Spatha fusiform, thick and woody, 5 to 6ft. long, the spikes 1 to 2ft., the 

 Common peduncle 1ft., or more. Male perianth about 4 lines long, the outer 

 segments scarcely 1 line. Filaments nearly as long as the anthers. Female 



