The Palms of British East India. 473 



agreeable smell, of considerable size, often an inch long. Sepals three, 

 rounded, broad. Petals nearly three times longer, oblong obovate. 

 Stamina 00 ; filaments short, slender ; anthers nearly as long as the 

 petals, aristato-mucronate. 



Female-flowers solitary, large, about an inch across. Sepals 3, very 

 broad. Petals three, cordato-ovate, coriaceous. No sterile stamina. 

 Ovarium shortly obturbinate, 3-celled, apex 3-lobed, concave in the cen- 

 tre, whence arise 3 tooth-shaped, triangular, erect stigmata ; substance 

 thick, fleshy. Down the back of the lobes which are opposite the 

 sepals runs a slight keel. Ovula erect. 



Fruit oblong-round, 2-2 \ inches long, surrounded at the base by the 

 perianth ; apex flat or nearly concave marked with three lines, running 

 from the backs of the persistent stigmata to the now nearly obsolete 

 lobes; substance (outer) coriaceous, thick, inner berried-cellular, gelati- 

 nous, adhering for the most part to the seeds, abounding in raphides. 

 Seeds dull black, convex on the outer, bifacial on the inner face, attenu- 

 ate at the base. Albumen horny, cartilaginous. Embryo so eccentric 

 as to point almost to the junction of the bifacial side. 



This is one of the handsomest and most useful Malayan 

 Palms. It is very commonly cultivated in the interior, the 

 lines of trees recalling to mind gothic arches. The 

 parts chiefly used are the black fibres forming the rete, the 

 juice, and the young albumen; the former are twisted into 

 ropes or cordage, renowned for its power of resisting wet ; 

 the juice is either drunk as toddy or made into sugar, 

 which appears to be in great demand. The young albu- 

 men preserved in syrup forms one of the well-known pre- 

 serves of the Straits. Mr. Lewes informs me, that trees that 

 have died after the ripening of the whole crop of fruit, 

 which is the natural course, are almost hollow, and particu- 

 larly adapted for making troughs, spouts or channels for 

 water, and that they last extremely well under ground. 



In short it is so valuable a palm, that it early attracted 

 Dr. Roxburgh's attention,* who introduced it largely. The 



* With respect to the various and important uses of this most elegant 

 palm, I have nothing to offer myself, but refer to what Rumphius and Marsden 

 have written on the subject. At the same time, I cannot avoid recommending 



