N. O. PALMES. 1317 



much ramified panicle, the branches in the axils of coriaceous 

 sheaths narrowed into a lanceolate blade. Calyx and petals 

 thinly membranous. Stamens 6, sometimes 9in. in the male 

 flower. Stamens in the male flower inserted in the corolla- 

 tube in the hermaphrodite flower in its throat ; anthers deeply 

 sagittate. Ovary 3-celled, narrowed into a style. Drupe 

 globose, ellipsoid or oblong. (Beccari and Hooker). 1-seeded, 

 globose, fin. diam. 



Uses : —The delicate young leaves are given in diarrhoea and 

 dysentery. They are also purgative ; chiefly used in veterinary 

 medicine. (Bellew.) 



1302. Bo7*assns flabellifor, Linn., h.f.b.i., vi. 

 482 ; Roxb. 724. 



Sans. : — Tala. 



Vern. :— Tal, tar, f H.) ; Tal (R); Tale (Santal) ; Tad, Dral 

 (Guz.); tada, talat-mad (Mar.); Potu-tati, tati-chettu (Tel.); 

 Panaimaram panam, pampai (Tarn.); Pana (Mai.); Tall, tale 

 pane-mare (Kan.) 



Habitat : — Cultivated throughout Tropical India, "Bengal 

 and southern part of the United Provinces. 



Trunk attains 100ft. high and 2ft. in diam. near the ground, 

 with a dense mass of long rootlets, often swollen above the 

 middle, when young covered with dry leaves or the bases of 

 petioles, when old marked with the black narrow scars of the 

 latter. Leaves 3-5ft. in diam. ; segments 60-80, shining, folded 

 along the midrib, linear-lanceolate ; petioles 2-4ft. long, 

 semiterete, the margins with hard spinescent serratnres. Flowers 

 dioecious. Spadix very large, simply branched, sheathed with 

 numerous open spathes. Male flowers small ; spikes 1-3 at the 

 ends of the branches, cylindric, densely clothed with imbricating 

 bracts ; numerous minute secund spikelets concealed by the 

 bracts so as to appear immersed in the spike, the flowers coming 

 to the surface one by one as they successively open. Stamens 6 ; 

 filaments connate with the corolla into a stalk. Female flowers 

 larger, globose, lin. in diam. ; perianth fleshy, greatly accrescent. 

 Sepals imbricate. Petals smaller, convolute. Staminodes 6-9. 



