Page 60: Revision of Pandanus, 6. Queensland — -S t. John 
575 
r 1 ' 1 1 i 
o 5 cm. 
a 
Fig. 32. Pandanus truncatus, from holotype, lower 
side of leaf, §| l. a, Near base; b, middle; c, apex. 
apex low convex, upper l A free, the sides with 
6- 8 major angles and with 2-3 -times that num- 
ber of secondary sharp ridges, so that the adja- 
cent phalanges fit as if mortised, when dried 
light brown, smooth and shiny, lateral carpel 
sutures well marked Vi way or nearly all the 
way down, the central apical sinuses 3-4 mm. 
deep, the bottoms narrow and sinuous; carpels 
7- 11, the apices subequal pyramidal-semiorbic- 
ular, all the marginal and some of the central 
ones with a dark brown flat or slightly concave 
surface below the proximal edge of which is the 
steeply oblique, centripetal stigma 1-1.5 m. 
long, suborbicular to obcordate, and below it the 
proximal crease running Vz way or all the way 
to the bottom; endocarp median, bony, white, 
extensive only at the upper end, diminishing on 
the sides and lower part to thin sheets only 0.5 
mm. thick; seeds 23-25 mm. long, 4-6 mm. in 
diameter, ellipsoid; upper mesocarp of several 
caverns with strong longitudinal fibers and pale 
medullary membranes; lower mesocarp fibrous 
and fleshy, but the actual base almost wholly 
fleshy. 
HOLOTYPUS: Australia, Queensland, Cape 
York Peninsula, Lockerbie, 10 mi. WSW of 
Somerset, common and in places forming small 
groves on sandy soil in savanna-forest, 30 m. 
alt., 1948, L. /. Brass 18,552 (bri). 
DISCUSSION: The closest relative, P. Brookei 
Martelli, has the leaves near the base with mar- 
ginal teeth 2-3 mm. long; syncarp cylindric, 
43 X 21.5 cm., with about 66 phalanges the 
sides of which are plane or gently curving; 
apices of the marginal carpels broad concave on 
a broad pyramidal base; central apical sinuses 
4-6 mm. deep, the lines straight or gently 
curved; stigmas horizontal, 2-3 mm. long; and 
the endocarp 2 cm. long. On the other hand, P. 
truncatus has the leaves with marginal teeth 
near the base with teeth 1.5-2 mm. long; pha- 
lange sides sharply ridged and mortised with 
neighbors; syncarp broadly ellipsoid, 18 X 13 
cm., with about 56 phalanges; apices of margi- 
nal carpels with oblique, truncate planes exte- 
rior of the stigmas; central apical sinuses 3-4 
mm. deep, the lines sinuous; and the stigmas 
steeply inclined, 1-1.5 mm. long. 
The new epithet is the Latin participle, trun- 
catus, cut off, or flat ended, in allusion to the 
shape of the carpel apices. 
