VOYAGE FROM INDIA TO SIAM AND MALACCA 113 



young' fruits grew in a spreading panicle, which much resembled 

 the Elate, but the calices, which stood at the first partition, wr^re 

 peculiar ; they were obverse ovate, about a hand in width and 

 almost one span long\ I also found another kind of palm, ei^ually 

 stemless with no leaves, fitting one into the other at the root ; be- 

 tween them gTOws the fruit-bearing- stalk, about two feet hiofh, 

 which has a few leaves sheathed one into the other. It has an 

 erect panicle, closelj^ pressed together and obtuse at the end, which 

 was not as thick as a man. Upon it grew the male and herma- 

 phoditic blossoms in great quantity. The fruit has the shape of a 

 European pear; the peel is scaly, very hard, and woodlike on the 

 inside. The kernel is a short cone, broad at the base, and pointed 

 at the end; it has deep furrows, and consists of a blueish white 

 horny substance.* 



I also discovered a monandrian by the smell, because if one 

 touches these plants in passing they fill the air with an odour of 

 clover. The leaves are oblong like those of most of the Scitann- 

 va, but their surface is more shiny than that of any others. All 

 along the edges the leaves are lined with fine gold shin}- fibre, 

 which fact distinguishes them from others. The blossoms have 

 a spike like a kind of cone, which grows at the side of the root; 

 it is hardly as long as the width of a hand and as thick as a 

 finger, being thinner at both ends. However the resemblance 

 which this plant has with the Aniomo Scyplieferm, which I have 

 mentioned and described, is great. The blossoms are only little 

 raised above the ground, and almost the whole spike grows 

 underneath the soil. -The Itlossom of this specimen was dark red ; 

 that of the former is very light red. This one has a very wide 

 open labiate corolla, and therefore deserves the name of 

 Leonuriis. 



As the blossoms are fleshy, they deca}^ after the two or three 

 days of their bloom, and therefore the ear or cone is dirty and 

 sticky when one picks it up. After I had w^andered about in the 

 deepest forest and come across the fresh track of an elephant, I 

 hurried back to my host, who offered me excellent refreshments, 

 and about 5 o'clock we, started on our journey Jback^and ariived 

 at 8 o'clock in the evening. 



22. — All these days I was bus}" classifying my lately-found 

 plants, among which I found much interesting matter for descrip- 

 * Probably Bertam. Enqussona tristis. 



