630 
BECCABI. 
25 cm longo, 20-22 mm lato, superne planiusculo et spinis brevibus 
erectis armato; segmentis numerosis, aequidistantibus, rigide papyraceis, 
utrinque nitidis, e basi acuta latiuscule lanceolatis, acuminatis, major- 
ibus 40-42 cm longis, 4-5.5 cm latis. Spadix foemineus cireiter 50 
cm longus, rigidus, strictus, erectus, in paucas (4 in specimine uno) 
parvas sensim decrescentes inflorescentias partiales divisus et caudiculo 
inerme terminatus; spathis primariis tubulosis, in ore barbato-hispidis, 
inflorescentiis basilaribus 7-8 cm longis, utrinque spicis 3 vel 4 praeditis ; 
spathis secundariis infundibuliformibus, apice setosis, spicis brevibus et 
crassiusculis, 2-3.5 cm longis, paucifloris ; tloribus biseriatis, sursum versis, 
e basi plana et 5 mm lata, late conoideis. 
Apparently large and scanclent. Sheathed stem about 4 cm in diam- 
eter. Leaf-slieaths strongly gibbous above, woody, very densely armed 
with very slender and scattered, elastic, very narrowly laminiform and 
sometimes bristle-like, blackish, shining, unequal spines, of which the 
largest are 25 to 30 mm long. Ocrea shortly liguliform, axillary, fringed 
with long and rigid bristles. Leaves very large (in one specimen the 
pinniferous part is 1.7 m long) terminated by a very robust, strongly 
clawed cirrus; petiole about 25 cm long, 20 to 22 m m broad, fiat at the 
base above and convex beneath; upwards flattened and biconvex, covered, 
especially on the upper surface, with short, ascendent spines, these spines 
also covering the first portion of the rachis; on the margins the spines 
are not longer than elsewhere; the rachis is armed beneath (from the 
base upward) first with solitary, then with 2- or 3-nate, and at the 
extremity with half-whorled, very robust claws; on the upper surface the 
rachis is convex-bifacial with a smooth salient angle; leaflets numerous, 
alternate, equidistant, 5 to 7 cm apart (on each side), rigidly papyra- 
ceous, shining on both surfaces, rather broadly lanceolate, narrowing from 
below the middle to a rather acute base, very gradually acuminate to a 
bristly tip; the intermediate ones 40 to 42 cm long, 4 to 5.5 cm broad; 
the mid-costa is slender, but sharp above, and has 4 or 5 or at times more, 
slender, unequal secondary nerves on each side of it ; all nerves smooth on 
both surfaces ; transverse veinlets very close together and very sharp ; 
margins remotely and appressedly spinulous. Male spadix 
Female spadix rigid, strict, erect, short (50 cm long in one specimen), 
apparently appressed to the stem, with a very short (3 cm long), 15 mm 
bi'oad, almost unarmed, much flattened pedicellar part, which gradually 
passes into the first spathe. The spadix bears only four small, gradually 
decreasing partial inflorescences, which are inserted inside the mouths 
of their respective spathes and are covered in every part with a brown 
scaly scurf. The primary spathes are tubular, minutely and appressedly 
furfuraceous at the mouth with stiff, black, shining bristles; the lowest 
spathe much flattened, two-keeled, the keels bearing rather long, subbristly 
spines; the upper spathes somewhat inflated, carinate and spinous on the 
