476 The Palms of British East India, 



Descr.* — A monoicous palm forming by means of suckers dense 

 clumps. Trunk stout, as thick as a man's thigh, generally 3-5 feet, 

 rarely 8 feet high. Leaves 18-28 feet in length; lower naked part of 

 the petiole 6-8 feet long; pinnce alternate, crowded, linear ensiform, 3-3§ 

 feet long, l|-2 inches broad, white underneath, with two large auri- 

 culae at the base, (the lower very large indeed, 1 J-2 inches long, overlay- 

 ing obliquely the petiole,) with a few distant teeth from the middle 

 upwards ; apex attenuate, unequally bi-lobed, erose ; terminal lobe nar- 

 row cuneate, 2-3-lobed, base shortly bi-auriculate, apex truncate, lobu- 

 lose, and jagged-dentate. 



Spadices decurved pendulous, about 4 feet long : peduncle before 

 branching about 2 feet long, quite concealed by the sheathing imbricate 

 lacerate spathes. Male ; branches (spikes) about 2 feet long, sub-fastigiate, 

 slender. A scale-shaped bracte at the base of each. Flowers in pairs 

 rather distant, (altogether forming a rather thin mass of inflorescence,) 

 rather large, in pairs, with a vertical scale interposed. Calyx of three 

 roundish imbricate sepals with thick bases. Petals 3, oblong, very 

 thick and coriaceous. Stamina 00 ; filaments short ; anthers linear, ad- 

 nate, terminated by a longish subulate point. No rudiment of a pistil" 

 lum. 



Branches of the female spadix attenuate towards the ends, where they 

 bear rudimentary flowers. Flowers solitary, under each a shallow en- 

 tire or bi-lobed cup. Sepals broadly cordate, small. Petals roundish- 

 cordate, acute or cuspidate. Abortive stamina several. f Ovarium round- 

 ish, 3-celled. Styles three, short, recurved. Ovula solitary. 



Fruit crowded on the lower halves of the stout spikes (the upper halves 

 naked,) about the size of a crab apple. Seed convex on one face, un- 

 equally bifacial on the other, separating easily except at the base from 

 the black papery endocarp, brown, surface conspicuously marked with 

 slightly branched veins, converging at the apex of the seed. Albumen 

 horny. Embryo on one edge of the convex face, above the middle. 



This species approaches in its inflorescence closely to A. 

 Westerhoutii. Its main differences from it seem to regard 

 the pinnae, which are attenuate and bi-lobed at the apex, 

 (not as in that species undiminished or even wider and more 



* Specimens : portions of a leaf; an entire male, female, and fruit spadix, com- 

 municated by Dr. Wight, with a letter describing the habit, and a drawing of the 

 male spadix, male and female flowers, and a fruit-bearing branch. 



f In flowers shortly after fecundation, however, I find none. 



