The Palms of British East India. 481 



orange yellow colour. Attention should also be directed to 

 the " Semoong-koong"* of Sikkim, which is probably a spe- 

 cies of Caryota. 



90. (3) C. sobolifera, arbuscula, sobolifera, pinnulis sub- 

 obtuse erosis et dentatis latere exteriori cuspidato-acumina- 

 tis, staminibus circiter 17, antheris mucronulatis, baccis 

 ssepius monospermis depresso-globosis magnitudine globuli 

 sclopetarii minoris. 



C. sobolifera. Marl. Palm. p. 194. 



Habit. — About Malacca and on Pulo Bissar in woody 

 places. Malayan name, Tookkus. Doodoor of Penang, Mr. 

 Lewes. Introduced into the Botanic gardens in 1816 from 

 the Mauritius, flowers duing the greater part of the year. 



DEscR.f — A very elegant Palm, forming by its offsets very thick com- 

 pact tufts. Stems 12-15 feet high, 4-5 inches in diameter, greenish, dis- 

 tinctly annulate. Leaves 8-9 feet long, spreading, nodding towards the 

 apex, glaucescent greenish ; petioles and sheaths scurfy downy ; pin- 

 nules (basilar) sub-opposite, (the rest alternate,) obcuneato-deltoid, 

 obliquely prsemorse, the outer margin acuminate, regularly and rather 

 obtusely jagged. 



Spathes concealing the whole peduncle, almost boat-shaped, at length 

 deciduous. Spikes very numerous about a foot long, altogether resem- 

 bling a docked tail, axis or rachis green, sulcate. Male flowers very 

 numerous, oblong, flesh-coloured, with reddish points. Calyx cup- 

 shaped, sepals broad, imbricate. Corolla of three, coriaceous, striate, 

 almost distinct, petals. Stamina about 17 ; filaments united at the base, 

 very short; anthers linear, adnate, generally slightly mucronulate. Pol- 

 len ovato-lanceolate, 1-3 plicate. 



Female flowers at the time of expansion of the males minute, rudimen- 

 tary, not developed until after the males of the same spadix have fallen 

 off. They are smaller than the males, not always solitary, but sometimes 

 in pairs or threes, or solitary with a scar of one male only. Bracteolce 

 two, right and left. Sepals rounded, with a brown intromarginal line, 

 and ciliate edges. Corolla twice as long, tripartite to a little below the 



* See Journal of the Agricultural Society of India, vol. 2. p. 323. 

 f Description, excepting the female flowers, from the Malacca Plant. 



