1690 CXLIII. PANDANACEiE. [Pwidanm. 



5. P. monticola (found on bills), F. v. M. Fragm. v. 40, vii. 63, and 

 ■viii. 220 ; Benth. Fl. Aiistr. vii. 150. " Yagul,"- Cairns, Cowley. Stem weak, 

 lalf climbing, attaining 2in. diameter. Leaves placed as in otber species, but 

 very long, hanging, bordered by small prickles or serratures. Male inflorescence 

 narrow, the spikes sessile along the rhachis, rather distant, 2 to Sin. long. 

 Bracts at their base membranous but not seen perfect. Stamens crowded, 

 irregularly collected in clusters, but the filaments free or scarcely united at the 

 l)ase. Anthers narrow, fully 3 lines long, finely mucronate. Fruit nearly 

 ■globular, 3 to 4in. diameter including the styles. 'Eeceptacle ovoid, hollow. 

 Drupes exceedingly numerous, closely packed and slightly cohering, about 5 lines 

 long, the pericarp thick and produced into thick linear-conical or oblong shortly 

 -acuminate styles above ^in. long, with small terminal stigmas. Seeds normal. 

 Hab.; In many of the tropical scrubs. 



2. FREYCINETIA, Gaudich. 

 (After Captain Freycinet.) 

 Flowers dioecious in dense spikes, pedunculate or sessile in the axils of 

 deciduous leafy or small bracts and usually 2 or 3 spikes together at the ends of 

 ■the branches. Male flowers : Stamens crowded on the rhachis, the filaments all 

 free ; anthers small, ovate, adnate, with revolute valves, resembling little 

 globular heads. Female flowers : Ovaries often surrounded by 2 or 3 short 

 ■staminodia, densely packed on the rhachis, cohering by their membranous almost 

 gelatinous bases, imperfectly divided by 2 or 3 projecting parietal placentae ; 

 stigmas or stigmatic lobes 2 or 3, sessile. Ovules numerous, superposed in 

 2 series on each placenta. Fruits small and numerous, in ovoid oblong or 

 cylindrical heads, succulent at the top, connate at the base and bursting 

 irregularly. Seeds numerous, oblong, bearing on one or both sides a longitudinal 

 loosely cellular appendage or strophiole. — Straggling or climbing perennials or 

 ■shrubs with leafy branches. Leaves with numerous parallel veins, their sheathing 

 bases closely embracing the branches and often torn up into shreds or filaments, 

 ■the floral leaves usually smaller and coloured. 



The genus comprises but few specie?, spread over the islands of the Malayan Archipelago and 

 ithe Pacific, New Zealand and New Guinea. 



Leaves about 6in. long, shortly acuminate 1. F. Gaudicltaudii. 



Xieaves Sin. to 1ft. long, tapering into a long subulate point 2. X excelsa. 



Tjeaves LJ to 4ft. long, 1 to 1 Jin. broad, acuminate S. F. insignis. 



1. p. G'audichaudii (after C. Gaudichaud), Br. and Benn. PI. Jav. Bar. 81, 

 t. 9 ; Benth. Fl. Aiistr. vii. 151. Stems very long, straggling or climbing and 

 rooting, more or less covered with the short sheathing bases of the leaves, the 

 membranous margins of the sheaths often torn up into shreds or filaments. 

 Leaves mostly about Gin. long and ^ to lin. wide, shortly acuminate, with 

 numerous parallel veins, the midrib more prominent, often minutely aculeate as 

 well as the edges. Bracts nearly white, very deciduous, the outer ones not 

 ■exceeding 21n. in length, the inner ones much smaller, very narrow, and quite 

 membranous. Spikes in the Queensland specimens (female) ovoid-oblong or 

 sometimes short and almost globular, the longer ones 1 to IJin. long >ylien in 

 fruit, on peduncles of ^ to lin., about 3 together at the ends of the branches. 

 Ovaries very numerous, closely pressed and cohering by their membranous bases, 

 free in the upper half, with a small terminal area divided more or less distinctly 

 into 2 or 8 stigmas. Fruits bursting irregularly. Seeds numerous, oblong, 

 about i line long, the rich brown smooth testa contrasting with the white 

 oblong cellular longitudinal appendages or strophioles, the inner one as large as 

 .the rest of the seed the outer one much narrower. — Proc. Roy. Soc. Ql. xi. 



Hab.: East coast within the tropics, A. Ctmningham ; Cape York Peninsula, Hann's 

 Expedition; Rockingham Bay, Dallachy ; Kockhampion, Shanesy, Thozet; Port Maekay, 

 ^ernst; Bmmundi (female inflorescence), Bail; also in the Malayan Archipelago and New Guinea. 



