348 
FLORA OF ADEN. 
linear, inserted at the bifid base. Rudiment of ovary 0. Female flowers 
larger than the male, very shortly pedicellate. Sepals 3, ovate-orbicular, 
obtuse, imbricate. Petals a little smaller than the sepals, broadly ovate, 
obtuse, imbricate. Staminodes 3, connate into a membranous ring. 
Ovary subglobose, obscurely 3-lobed, 3-celled ; stigmas 3, minute, sessile, 
terminal, at length excentric ; ovule attached by a broad base to the 
side of the cell. 
Fruit sessile or stalked, terete or obscurely lobed, often flat or 
intruded at the base and apex, 1 -celled ; stigma basal; pericarp fibrous, 
with a shining epidermis ; endoearp woody, fleshy inside. Seed adnate 
to the endocarp, erect, ovoid or obovoid, intruded at the base; testa 
very hard, fuscous ; raphe reticulately branched ; albumen homogeneous, 
hollow ; embryo apical. 
Species at least 40. 
Distribution : — All over tropical and subtropical Africa, Arabia, 
Western India. 
1. Hyphaene thebaica Mart. Hist. Nat. Palm, III, 226 (ed. 1), excl. 
syn. nonnullis, tab. 131, 132, 133 (excl. ic. spadicis masculae in tab. 
132) ; Becc. in Agricolt. Colon. (1908) II, fasc. III. 
Corypha thebaica Linn. Sp. PI. ed. 2 (1763) 1657. 
Cucifera thebaica Delile Descr. de P Egypt II, 57, t. 1,2 ; Diet. Hist. 
Nat. XIII, 472. 
Douma thebaica Poir. Encycl. Suppl. II, 519. 
Hyphaene cucifera, Pers. Ench. II, 2245. 
Chamaeriphes thebaica Kuntze Rev. Gen. PI. II (1891) 728. 
Names : — Egyptian Doum Palm ; Gingerbread Tree ; Mama (in 
Egypt). 
Description : — Stem terete, 10-30 feet high, about 1 foot in diameter, 
simple or more frequently dichotomously branched. Leaves 20-30 in a 
terminal crown on each branch ; petiole sheathing at the base, triangular 
below, plano-convex upwards, spiny on the margins, with rusty tomen- 
tum ; lamina suborbicular, lobes 20 or more, linear-lanceolate, acu- 
minate, 1J feet long, 1 inch wide ; primary nerves thick, concave 
above, secondary numerous. 
Male spadix about 4 feet long, 1-2 inches thick at the base, at first 
erect, afterwards patent ; spathes nearly cylindrical ; flower-bearing 
branches 6-7 inches long, 3-2 at the end of branches 3-4 inches long ; 
bracteoles \ line long. Flowers in pairs, shortly pedicellate. Calyx 
divided down to the base into 3 narrow acute yellow sepals, contracted 
below. Corolla stipitate with the segments imbricate, rotundate and 
eucullate at the apex, thin and not strongly striate-nervose, Stamens 6, 
