118 
PACIFIC SCIENCE, Vol. XXII, January 1968 
Fig. 255^. Pandanus circular is St. John, holotype. Left, base of trunk and prop roots; right, trunk and 
leaf bases. 
apart, subulate, heavy based, strongly reflexed; 
at midsection the margins with spines 3. 5-5. 5 
mm long, 5-18 mm apart, flattened arcuate sub- 
ulate, ascending, white; the nearby midrib be- 
low with similar spines but 12-16 mm apart; 
on the subulate apex the margins and midrib 
below with subulate-serrulations 0.6-1 mm long, 
1-2.5 mm apart, white; pistillate inflorescence 
terminal, erect, spicate, bearing 9 syncarps, these 
attached in three rows; peduncle 36 cm long, 
5.5 cm in diameter at apex, clavate, in section 
deltoid, but the angles obtuse, the upper part 
with two caducous bracts; rhachis 20 cm long; 
syncarps crowded, ascending, 14-18 cm long, 
9-10 cm broad, 7-8 cm thick, in profile cylin- 
dric-ovoid, but the proximal face flat or nearly 
so, bearing 52-78 phalanges in vertical rows; 
core fleshy and fibrous; phalanges 3.5-4 cm 
long, 2. 7-3. 8 cm wide, said to be "yellow,” 
obovoid, the broad base truncate, upper Yt—y$ 
free, oblate obtuse-pyramidal (5)-6-angled, the 
apical area shallow concave, hexagonal to ellip- 
tic, bounded by a distinct rim on which are 
placed the 4-9 stigmas (though rarely there is 
a smaller, central one) ; marginal stigmas 1.5- 
2 mm long, elliptic to lanceolate or deltoid, 
mostly centrifugal, but a few are tangential, and 
rarely there is a centripetal one, the sinus a deep 
crack 0.5-1 mm long; endocarp bony, brown, 
supramedian, 14 mm long, the lateral walls 
4-6 mm thick, the inner surfaces smooth, shin- 
ing; seeds 8 mm long, ellipsoid; apical meso- 
carp of solid pith, traversed by a few longitu- 
dinal fibers; basal mesocarp fleshy and fibrous. 
holotypus: Malagasy Republika, Faranka- 
raina, 14 km NE of Maroantsetra, wooded sandy 
flat near seashore, 2 m alt, Sept. 2, 1961, H. 
St. John 26,365 (bish). 
discussion: P. circularis is a member of the 
section Dauphinensia, as is its closest relative, 
P. erectus St. John, a Malagasy species with the 
peduncle 53 cm long; phalanges 2.6-3. 1 cm 
long, 1.5-2. 2 cm wide, (2)-3-4-celled ; endo- 
carp lateral walls 1 mm thick; leaves 3.2-3.25 
m long, 15-16 cm wide, at midsection with 83 
parallel secondary veins in each half, and at 
