26 
FETCH : 
spathe terminated in a solid stalk -like tip about 5 inches long, 
which bore a leaf 9 inches long. This leaf was fan-shaped 
and undivided, like the first leaves of a seedling coconut plant. 
Within the spathe the main axis of the inflorescence bore a 
large number of long bracts and small flowering branches 
symmetrically arranged, the whole resembling a bouquet. 
Owing to the longitudinal compression produced by the closed 
spathe during their expansion, nearly all the bracts were 
strongly tranversely wrinkled at the base, and most of the 
flowering branches, and in some cases the bracts also, were 
repeatedly bent from side to side in permanent zigzags. 
The first bract, counting from the base, almost sheathed 
the main axis completely ; its shape was elongated, triangular , 
5 inches broad at the base, and 23 inches long. 
The second bract was the same general shape, but only 2 
inches broad at the base. Its length was 22 inches. In its 
axil was an aborted shoot, 4 inches long, tapering to a sharp 
point ; it was winged on either side, the wings being folded 
over and meeting down the centre of the adaxial face, so that 
it had rather the appearance of a leaf stalk. Further examples 
show that this is to be regarded as an aborted spathe. 
The third bract was 3 inches across the base and 21 inches 
long. In its axil was the first flowering branch of the inflores- 
cence. This was only 11 inches high, and was again abnormal. 
Instead of being simple, it bore eighteen (tertiary) flowering 
branches. The lower half of the shoot bore five successive 
triangular bracts diminishing in length upwards from 2 inches 
to half an inch ; these were followed by the eighteen flowering 
shoots, each with its own bract. The bracts of the lowest 
flowering shoots were longer than the empty bracts below and 
reached a length of 3 inches, but those situated higher up the 
axis diminished until the uppermost did not exceed a quarter 
of an inch. Thus, the secondary axes of the inflorescence 
repeat the abnormal features of the whole inflorescence. 
The fourth bract was 22 inches long, and was spht down to the 
base. It was apparently a fusion of two bracts, as there were 
in its axil an aborted spathe almost identical with that in the 
axil of the second bract, and a branched, bracteate, flowering 
shoot, similar to that in the axil of the third bract, but smaller. 
