FLOBA OF ADEN . 
347 
Flowers blue, the lower raceme obsolete, the upper 3 — 5 -flowered. 
Capsules J inch long, 3-celled, 2-valved, the dorsal cell indehiscent, 
with muricate ribs. Seeds r \j-8 inch long, rounded at the ends and on 
the back, somewhat angular on the inner face, dull black. 
Locality ; — Aden (Birdw.). 
Distribution : — Tropical Africa, Arabia, Baluchistan, Sind. 
LIII.-PALME£!. 
Shrubs or trees, solitary or gregarious, naked or prickly, rarely 
pubescent. Stem erect, scandent or decumbent, rarely branched above. 
Leaves alternate, plaited in bud, pinnatisect or palmate, rarely simple 
or bipinnate ; petiole sheathing. 
Flowers 1 — 2-sexual, small, in panicles or spikes that are enclosed in 
one or more large sheathing bracts (spathes), usually 3-bracteate. 
Perianth inferior, segments 6 in two series (sepals and petals), usually 
all free, imbricate or valvate. Stamens 3 or 6, rarely more ; anthers 
versatile. Ovary 1 — 3-celled or of 3 1-celled carpels ; stigmas 3, usually 
sessile ; ovules 1-2 in each carpel, adnate to the wall, base, or top of the 
cell, anatropous. 
Fruit a 1 — 3-celled drupe or hard berry or of 1-3 carpels ; pericarp 
smooth, rough or clothed with shining scales that imbricate downwards. 
Seeds erect or laterally attached, rarely pendulous ; raphe usually branch- 
ing all over the testa ; albumen horny or bony, solid or ruminate - 
embryo small, in a small cavity near the surface of the albumen. 
Genera about 180 ; species about 1,300. 
Distribution : — Chiefly tropical. 
Leaves fan-shaped 1. Hyphaene. 
Leaves pinnate .... (cultivated) . . 2. Phoenix. 
1. Hyphaene Gaertner; 
Unarmed except for the spines on the petioles. Stem cylindrical oi 
ventricose, simple or dichotomously branched. Leaves in a terminal 
crown, orbicular or flabellate ; segments ensiform ; petiole concavo- 
convex, plano-convex, or more rarely 6i-convex ; sheath short, open ; 
ligule oblique or equilateral. 
Spathes cylindrical, incomplete ; spadices dioecious, male and female 
similar ; spadix branches alternate ; flower-bearing branches subfastigiate ; 
bracts semicircular, very densely imbricate; bracteoles membranous, 
bearded. Male flowers : Sepals linear-oblong, imbricate, connate at the 
base. Petals broadly ovate, obtuse, concave, imbricate, connate at the 
base into a short stalk. Stamens 6 ; filaments short, subulate ; anthers 
