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PACIFIC SCIENCE, Vol. XXI, October 1967 
2-celled drupes with the seeds median, similar 
but slightly oblique and 4 mm in diameter; 
apical mesocarp with numerous transverse, pale 
membranes; basal mesocarp fibrous and fleshy. 
description of staminate plants: Grow- 
ing mingled with the pistillate plants; plants 
blooming in October and November, bearing 
1-2 staminate inflorescences, these with nu- 
merous pale leafy bracts, the median ones 31 cm 
long, 3 cm wide, ligulate, acute, firm, foliaceous, 
veiny, the middle and upper margins with 
ascending prickles 0.2-0. 3 mm long, about 
1 mm apart; spikes 3-6 cm long, 12-15 mm in 
diameter, finger-like, dense; fascicles of stamens 
about 15 mm long, divergent, the common 
filament base 7-10 mm long, bearing 4-7 
stamens; free filament tips 0.5-2 mm long; 
anthers 2-2.9 mm long, oblong, bearing a 
subulate projection of the connective 0.5- 
0.6 mm long. 
holotype: "Australia; growing under palms 
along perennial streams about 200 miles south- 
west of Burketown (Burke District), North- 
west Western Queensland,” Albert de Lestang 
(fi) ! Isotypes (bri, k) ! 
The label on the holotypic specimen has the 
additional data: "abundant, February 1925. The 
nuts sent although green are fully grown. These 
nuts are the favourite food of two species of 
Turtle which abound in the streams where this 
pandanus grows.” 
specimens examined: Australia, same data 
as above, but 6 Nov. 1926 (staminate) (bri) ; 
and ditto, 1927 (fi, k). 
discussion: P. de-Lestangii Martelli is a 
clearly distinct species. The collector, A. de 
Lestang, was an amateur naturalist who gathered 
abundant material and recorded good data. 
Drawing his description and figures from this 
material, Martelli published this easily recog- 
nizable species. He described the drupes as with 
1 cell, or 2-3, or rarely 4-5 in one series. His 
illustrations show 1— 2-3-celled drupes in lateral 
and apical views, and 1— 2-celled ones in longi- 
tudinal median section. The holotype (fi) has 
been studied, as well as the abundant isotype 
(bri) ; together these contain 309 drupes that 
are 1 -celled, 53 of the 2-celled, and 2 of the 
3-celied. On the angular shoulders leading to 
the apex of the broader drupes there are often 
pale, corky scars, very similar to stigmas, 
especially if the apex is partly eroded. For 
instance, when the writer first carefully sorted 
the drupes of the isotype, he separated 7 as with 
3 cells, judged by the apparent stigmas. Later, 
by sectioning some, and by comparison, it was 
discovered that 6 of them had the body only 
2-lobed and in section 2-celled, 2-seeded. In 
each case they had two stigmas in a line, and the 
third spot was actually a corky scar, not a stigma. 
The single remaining one was truly 3 -celled, but 
it was a shorter, asymmetric, basal one with the 
three stigmas in a triangle and centripetal. 
Count Martelli assigned P. de-Lestangii to 
section Hombronia , as its only representative on 
the Australian continent. On the contrary, it is 
now clear that when the stigmas are 2, they are 
in line but centripetaliy directed, flush, and 
elliptic to obovate or suborbicular. When 3, the 
stigmas are centripetal. In true Hombronia the 
several stigmas are arranged in a line or in 
several parallel lines, with the stigmas like flaps 
or teeth directed laterally at right angles to the 
line of carpels. In structure the fruits of 
P. de-Lestangii are quite at variance with this 
section. The species is here reassigned to the 
section Microstigma . 
A. de Lestang in later observations (in litt. 
ad W. D. Francis, 30/9/42) stated that the 
species succeeds well in cultivation as an orna- 
mental or for hedges, even in dry ground. "In 
the wild state thrives in bog and shallow water, 
loving best the fringe of deep pools where it 
anchor [s] itself with props extending to the 
bottom of the deepest water. In spring displays 
long spikes of yellowish flowers, male ses- 
sile, . . .” On his staminate sheet is his letter 
with many details, including: "Each grown tree 
blooms late in October and early November 
carrying one or two male inflorescences but only 
the older trees bear syncarps rarely more than 
two. Both male flowers and syncarps grow 
simultaneously on neighbouring limbs, and the 
specimens forwarded were from one tree.” — He 
seems to state that the trees are monoecious, but 
no such species is known. It is quite possible 
that he observed interlacing branches • from ad- 
jacent staminate and pistillate plants. Until 
