Pomona College Journal op Economic Botany 



401 



The stem, of P. ivrightii is always single and rises quite straight from 

 the soil for a meter or two ; at first it is cylindrical and of a uniform diameter 

 of about 30 cm., then it begins gradually to increase in thickness till it 

 attains about twice the diameter of its basal part ; afterwards, the swelling 

 of the stem begins to decrease in the same ratio, becoming cylindrical again, 

 but thinner than below the swelling; it continues to lengthen for several 

 meters more, till the trunk attains a total length of 10-12 m. From this 

 manner of growing it follows that in middle aged individuals the spindle- 

 like swelling is more or less mesial, but in plants that have attained a con- 

 siderable height the enlarged part appears approximate to the base and 

 imparts a very strange and quite unique appearance to this palm. 



J Figure 162. Pritchardia wrightii. a, flower during the anthesis, only one of the 

 segments remains attached to the tube of the corolla; b, longitudinal section of 

 a flower (the segments of the corolla and the anthers are wcinting) showing the 

 ovarium entire; c, anther from the dorsal side; d, anther from the inner side; 

 e, one of the carpels cut longitudinally; f, young fruit bearing at its apex the 

 remains of a sterile carpel; g, section of the kernel showing the entire seed 

 inside; h, section of a seed along the line of the raphe and dividing the embryo 

 in the middle. The flowers from Curtiss No. 364, Isla de Pinos; the fruit from 

 another source. 



On its lower part the trunk of P. wrightii appears (at least from what 

 I can judge from the photograph) covered by a cracked, corky bark, as is 

 the case with Jubaea, Livistona, Washingtonia, and numerous other palms; 

 but the swelling and the entire trunk above it have a smooth surface, more 

 or loss distinctly ringed by leaf-scars, but otherwise quite clean to the very 

 base of the crown, for the older and functionless leaves do not remain long 

 hanging down, but soon drop off. 



