A NEW ORNAMENTAL PALIMETTO IN SOUTHERN TEXAS. 13 



meter wide, or about only half the size of the correspoiidmg parts in 

 I lie pahns at Victoria, where the individual leaf segments are nearly 

 a meter long and 5 centimeters wide. 



The Victoria palmetto agrees with Inodes uresana in the size of the 

 fruit and seed, but the seed is not coarsely wrinkled above as in 

 Inodes uresana nor hollowed below. The absence of any distinct exca- 

 vation of the ventral surface renders the seeds of the Victoria pal- 

 metto quite distinct from those of any of the large-seeded palmettos in 

 the National Herbarium or ia the seed collection of the United States 

 Department of Agriculture. Instead of being hollowed out, the 

 lower side of the seed is flat or slightly convex and usually shows a 

 small, smooth prominence in the middle, surrounded by coarse, irreg- 

 ular wrinkles. The hilum is eccentric, but close to the central promi- 

 nence and surrounded by stronger radiating wrmkles. The remainder 

 of the surface, outside the flattened areas of the lower side, is not 

 wrinkled but only finely coriaceous or leathery under a lens. The 

 micropyle, marking the position of the embryo, is represented by a 

 very distinct conical elevation surrounded by a flat rim or a slight 

 circular depression. The embryo is lateral, just above the transverse 

 middle of the seed. The seeds are about 7 millimeters thick, with a 

 diameter of from 10 to 12 millimeters, about two-thirds of them 

 being 11 mHlimeters and less than 10 per cent attaining 12 millimeters. 

 One of the seeds showed no micropyle, embryo, or cavity in the 

 endosperm. 



The seeds are surrounded in the mature fruit by a thin membrane of 

 rather loose corky texture, with the outer surface torn into numerous 

 spinelike points by the shrinkage of the pulp which dries down 

 against the outer wall into a brownish layer, usually less than 1 

 millimeter thick. This leaves an empty space, often 2 millimeters 

 across, between the membranous coating of the seed and the similar 

 coating of the inner surface of the pulp. The total diameter of well- 

 developed fruits is about 18 millimeters and the length nearly the 

 same, owing to the presence of a somewhat oblique narrowed base 

 bearing the conical persistent style as a spinelike basal projection 

 nearly 2 millimeters in length. Only one fruit is developed from a 

 flower. There are none of the twin and triplet fruits that are of 

 frequent occurrence in Inodes texana. 



Another related species from the Pacific slope of Mexico is Inodes 

 rosei Cook, described from specimens collected by Dr. J. N. Rose, 

 at Acaponeta, Tepic, but this palm has the ultimate branchlets very 

 slender and the seeds like those of Inodes uresana, strongly rugose above 

 and deeply umbilicate below. The fruits of Inodes rosei are usually 

 smaller than those of the Victoria palmetto, with thinner membranes 

 and less pulp. The lobes of the calyx are shorter and the persistent 



[Cir. 113] 



