PHILIPPINE HATS. 
103 
a second furnishes a considerable fraction of the coarse hats used in 
Manila and its vicinity, a third has a similar position in southeastern 
Luzon, two others are known to be used occasionally, and another two 
have recently been abandoned. 
? Pandanus sabotan Blanco Pi. Pilip. (1837) 779. 
The plants from which sabotan is obtained, are known with certainty, 
but their botanical position is in doubt, owing to the fact that no flower- 
ing or fruiting specimens have ever reached the hands of a botanist. It 
has been taken for granted that the plant of this name is P. sabotan 
Blanco, but the identification is in doubt in two ways. Blanco’s descrip- 
tion was drawn from a single small specimen sent him from Laguna, and 
Professor Ugolino Martelli has called attention to the fact that For. Bur. 
2700, which is true sabotan, does not agree with Blanco’s statements. 
This specimen he has identified as Pandanus tectorius var. sinensis Warb. 26 
The matter is of importance, in the correlation of our materials with 
those of Formosa and Hawaii. On the other hand, Blanco’s economic 
notes, and the description . of the leaves, so far as it goes, would apply 
better to P. utilissimus Elmer. But it is inconceivable that he could have 
had even one typical leaf of that species, the economic pandan of south- 
eastern Laguna, or he could not have failed to mention the great size of the. 
leaves, which are 4 to 5 m long. Indeed, his statement that he had a 
small specimen may leave the matter permanently in doubt. 
Sabotan has been cultivated in towns along the northeastern shore of 
Lake Bay for two centuries, and fairly exhaustive investigations of it have 
been made in' the preparation of this paper. At Tanay, Rizal, it is said 
to have flowered and fruited in 1903 ; at the adjoining town of Pililla, 
it is said to have flowered in recent years, but not to have fruited; at 
Mavitac, from which it is best known, only occasional old people claim 
to have seen fruit or to have seen others who had. The description by 
the people of Tanay is given for what it may be worth, namely, that the 
head of fruit was as long and as thick as a man’s forearm, the arm used 
as an illustration being a fairly stout one. If this is true, it can not be 
related closely to P. tectorius Soland., nor to any other known Philippine 
species. Repeated questioning in every town where it is of importance, 
and in many others, as to whether it had eVer been found wild, invariably 
met with negative answers, except in a solitary instance. That was 
carefully investigated, and a man was found who remembered when the 
individual plants had been cultivated. The species is often wild in 
the sense that it has been abandoned. The absence of fruit is no 
obstacle to its introduction or cultivation, as the plants bear numerous 
suckers at the base. The leaves are slow-growing, and vary in texture 
with age and the amount of shade. This pandan is abundant in the 
26 This Journal 3 (1908) Bot. 63. 
