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Pomona College Journal of Economic Botany 



color as the iipper; margfins sharp; transverse veinlets c|uite obliterate. The 

 middk leaflets of larger leaves are 60-80 cm. long and 3-4.5 cm. broad, but at 

 times they are considerably smaller, shorter and narrower; the upper and 

 lower leaflets are always shorter and narrower than those of the middle. 



Th« spadiccs are glabrous in every part, interfrondal, and several, of 

 different degrees of development, are present at the same time on the same 

 tree; they are strongly recurved and make their way from among tiie ba.ses 

 of the leaves; they form a dense, oblong, pendulous, twice-branched panicle, 

 40-50 cm. long, borne on a rather robust peduncular part, about as long. The 

 spathes are double, the outer sheathes the peduncular part of the spadix and the 

 base of the inner spathe; this is about 50 cm. long, 8-9 cm. broad, tliinly 

 but firmly coriaceous, concave-cymbiform, lanceolate in outline, tapering above 

 to a dorsally keeled acuminate apex ; it is mahogany red. striate and almost 

 glossy inside, dull, reddish brown, when dry, and very thinly and sparingly 

 furfuraceous externally; the main branches are thick and short, spirally 

 arranged all around the axis and approximate one to the other; each primary 

 branch is suffulted by a broadly triangular acuminate bract, and very soon 

 divided into 2-4 flower-bearing branchlets ; these are 15-25 cm. long, subterete, 

 tliick, of the uniform diameter of 5-8 mm. and only taper a little above to an 

 acute tip ; they arc deeply, very regularly and closely scrobiculate or alveolate 

 along 5-7 longitudinal series; the alveoles are polished inside and have the 

 form of an ogival niche, 8-12 mm. apart in each series, and have, at the base, 

 a very conspicuously rounded lip suffulting the glomerules of the flowers; the 

 branchlets in the herbarium specimen with their seriate alveoles and lower 

 projecting lip resemble a coarse rasp. 



The flowers are ternate in the alveoles from the base to the apex of the 

 branchlets; but the two males of each gloraerule open a long time before the 

 female ; only one of the males is furnished with a triangular, erect, acute, 

 dorsally keeled, bract ; the femal« flower (of each glomerule) has two bracts, 

 larger than that of the male, and all, like the flowers, are tinged with mahogany 

 red. 



The male flowers of each group are collateral and open in succession ; the 

 fully developed buds have their bases inserted in their respective alveoles, are 6 

 mm. long, 2 mm. broad, narrowly oblong, blunti.sh, and tapering towards the 

 base. They are somewhat angular and irregular from mutual pressure ; sepals 

 entirely free, slightly imbricate at the base, linear-spathulate membranous- 

 scarious with hyaline margins, cucullate, and rounded at the apex, very 

 acutely keeled on the back. Corolla, somewhat less than twice as long as the 

 calyx, divided from about the middle upwards into three narrowly spathulate 

 segments, which are concave, slightly thickened, valvate, bluntish or roundish 

 at the apex and of the same texture as the sepals ; the corolla in its lower, 

 undivided half is tubular-cyathiform and tapers to a narrow base. The stamens 

 form a rather long column, divided above into six short and relatively thick 

 filaments, radiating at about a level with, or a little above, the corolla at the 

 time of the anthesis. Anthers basifixed and erect in the bud, introrse, con- 



