417 
Ridley. — Branching in Palms. 
apex occurred, nor one in which the central original bud was crushed 
out by the development of two lateral ones. In all cases of bifurcation 
or apparent bifurcation which it has been possible to investigate, one of 
the branches is a lateral bud, often produced low down on an already tall 
main stem, and the axillary bud has grown so rapidly that it in time 
equals the original one in height and thickness. 
1. Palms which are usually soboliferous (i. e. produce suckers at the 
base) are rarely branched at or near the base. Soboliferous palms, however, 
have a distinct tendency to emit axillary buds well above the base of the 
main stems, as in the case of the Oncosperma above described, and I have 
seen the same thing in Dypsis pinnatifrons and Chrysalidocctrpns lutescens , 
both soboliferous palms, as well as in rattans of two genera. 
3. No instance appears to be recorded of a monocarpic palm with 
a branched stem. He defines as a monocarpic palm one which has a ter- 
minal inflorescence appearing once only ; after the plant has flowered and 
ripened its fruit it dies. He classes as monocarpic : Metroxylon , Corypha , 
R aphia, Caryota , Ancistrophyllum , Plectocomia , Eugeissona , and possibly 
Arenga. Of these the only ones which are strictly monocarpic are Corypha 
(all species), Raphia Ruffia , and perhaps some species of Metroxylon. 
Plectocomia and Eugeissona are very long-lived plants, of which the 
branches flower in turn and die, but the plant does not. The Caryotidae 
flower in a peculiar way. The stem, when adult, commences to produce 
flower-buds through the leaf-sheaths from the top downwards, often 
alternately male and female, till the last bud close to the ground appears, 
when the whole stem dies. In the case of Arenga saccharifera and 
A. Listeri only one stem is produced, so that the whole plant dies after 
it has finished flowering. The same thing occurs in all species of Caryota 
except C. mitis, which produces five stems or more, but when all have 
done flowering the whole plant dies. In this species the stems are not 
produced all at once, but one after the other. I have never seen any of 
these plants producing axillary buds except from the extreme base. 
Palms which start throwing out axillary buds on the erect stems seem 
to have a tendency to continue throwing out buds from the adventitious 
stem, as may be seen in Cocos nucifera and in Chrysalidocarpus. In 
many cases observed the axillary buds are never well developed, and 
perish soon. 
Plectocomia constantly throws out buds, sometimes from each of the 
lower nodes, but they rarely, if ever, grow more than a few inches. 
In some cases the plants which produce these lateral buds are weak 
and more or less diseased or injured by insects, but this is by no means 
always the case. However, I do not remember ever to have come across 
any branched palms in a wild state except Plectocomia and some other 
rattans. 
