The Palms of British East India. 461 



Drupe reddish, ovate, with an attenuated base and a blunt point, 8 

 lines long, 3-4 broad. Seed ovate. Albumen highly ruminate. Embryo 

 basilar. 



I have some specimens communicated by Major Jenkins, 

 and others collected by myself in Assam, and on the Khassya 

 Hills,* of which I subjoin descriptions, as they either shew 

 a tendency in this species to vary, or the existence of two 

 other nearly allied species. 



79. (10) A. disticha, fruticosa, foliis bipartitis vel pin- 

 natis, pinnis oppositis acuminatis, spadice simplici vel 2-3- 

 ties ramoso, fl. masc. petalis insequalibus obliquis cuspidato- 

 acuminatis calycem minutum multo excedentibus, staminibus 

 circiter 15, fl. faeminei nullis, fructibus ovatis attenuatis dis- 

 tichis. 



A. disticha, Roxb. Icones. 14. t. 77. FL Ind. 3. p. 620. 

 Seaforthia disticha, Mart. Palm. p. 184. 



Habit. — In dense forests, Ayer Punnus (Rhim), Malacca, 

 not uncommon. Pinang. Roxburgh. Malayan name, Pinang 

 Booreng Paday, 



* Descr.— , Stem apparently very slender. Leaves scarcely more than a span long ; 

 •petiolesl-Z inches long, triangular, ferruginous scurfy ; sheaths of the same length ; 

 lamina cuneate, bilobed to or beyond the middle, 7-8 inches long, 2 broad across 

 the sinus, not coriaceous, lobes obliquely acuminate with twice as many acute teeth 

 at the apex as there are keels. 



Spadice with 4 sub-digitate branches, the lowest arising about 2 inches from the 

 base of the peduncle, they are 3-5 inches in length, spreading and not compressed. 



Fruits tetrastichous, ovate, attenuate at the base and surrounded by the cup- 

 shaped perianthium, 6£ lines long, 3* broad, distinctly mammillate at the apex ; 

 substance thin, fibres tolerably copious. Seed one, erect. Albumen horny, very 

 much and deeply ruminate. Embryo basilar, rather obliquely situated. 



This is also closely allied to A. disticha, but is distinguishable by the more 

 branched stouter spadix, the tetrastichous fruit, its larger size, and distinctly mam- 

 millate apex. The stigma, judging from one abortive pistillum, is also 5-lobed. 

 If the specimens of the leaves belong to the same plant as the spadix, it becomes 

 probable that they arc the mature form. 



It would also appear to be allied to A. Dicksoni, from which it may be distin- 

 guished by the absence of stcitile stamina, and the smaller and mammillate fruit. 



3 o 



