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527 
proven to the contrary, it will be assumed that 
this species is dioecious, like all other known 
species of Pandai7us. 
He continues: "When a syncarp is fully 
grown (if allowed) although still green, the 
balloon-like oval-shaped stem shrinks to nothing 
within a few days, as soon as the stem [or core] 
begins to shrink the drupes fall down, slipping 
in a bunch. 
"Thousands of White Cockatoos ( Cacatua 
galerita) systematically comb the Pandanus for 
syncarps, beginning in February, they tear down 
each drupe in quest of a kind of fly larvae 
which, I think, are solely associated with this 
fruit. The greater part of the drupes fall in the 
water below where herds of turtles gluttonously 
swallow whole the falling drupes; those falling 
upon the banks are not lost either, for when all 
the Pandanus are clean of syncarps the cockatoos 
search the ground carefully for the dry nuts and 
with their powerful beak crush and extract the 
edible parts.” 
Consideration must be given to P. aquaticus 
F. MuelL, which in 1856 was published as a 
provisional name, but in 1865 and 1874 was 
validated as a species. In these accounts von 
Mueller stated that the plant lacked aerial roots, 
was smaller and more slender, and had separate 
drupes. He gave no locality and cited no speci- 
mens. Legally P. aquaticus F. Muell. is valid. 
The holotype in Melbourne was studied in 
1958. It is a single leaf 79 cm long, 3.7 cm 
wide. It was collected in December 1855 on the 
Upper Victoria River, labeled with the name 
von Mueller, but probably was collected by 
Leichhardt. No fruit was preserved. An isotype 
of this was sent to Kew, and Solms stated 
(Linnaea 42:69, 1878) that it was staminate. 
Warburg listed it (Engler’s Pflanzenreich IV, 
9:85, 1900) with the "Species incertae sedis,” 
and could neither supplement the description 
nor cite additional collections. S. T. Blake 
(Austral. J. Bot. 2:131, 1954) reviews the 
history of von Mueller’s several publications of 
P. aquaticus and concludes correctly that his 
"remarks given are sufficient to validate the 
name.” He reduces P. de-Lestangii Martelli to 
its synonymy, believing that there is but a single 
Pandanus species with unicellular drupes in the 
area of northern Northern Territory and north- 
west Queensland. 
The present writer is in full sympathy with 
efforts to document and establish the identity of 
early described species. However, in this case, 
P. aquaticus F. Muell. rests upon a few non- 
diagnostic, descriptive words, and upon one leaf 
and a staminate inflorescence. It seems best 
treated as a valid name for a species so incom- 
pletely known that it should be left a species 
dubia, particularly as it is not safe to assume 
that only a single species of Pandanus can grow 
in one area. The next name, P. de-Lestangii 
Martelli, was based on good material from near 
Burketown, Queensland, and was published 
with an excellent diagnosis and illustration. 
This name is here adopted. 
Pandanus adscendens sp. nov. (sect. Pan- 
danus) 
Fig. 242 
DIAGNOSIS HOLOTYPI: Arbor 7 m alta 18 cm 
diametro, cortice tuberculosa, radicibus ful- 
turosis 1-1.5 m longis 4 cm diametro verrucu- 
losis, foliis 1.3-1. 6 m longis proxima basem 
7 cm latis in media 5.5 cm latis coriaceis 
in sectione oblate sinuose M-formatis gladi- 
formatis ex basi in apice subulato diminuentibus 
(apice non preservato) basi amplexicauli et 
inermi, ex 6-9 cm marginibus cum aculeis 
1.8-3 mm longis 3-1 1 mm separatis crassiter 
subulatis adscendentibus brunneis vel cum 
apicibus brunneis, midnervo infra ex 15-20 cm 
cum aculeis 1.6-2. 2 mm longis 13-45 mm 
separatis graciliter subulatis adscendentibus, in 
sectione mediali marginibus cum subulato-serris 
1-2 mm longis 4-10 mm separatis, midnervo 
infra cum serris simulantibus sed 10-32 mm 
separatis, proxima apicem marginibus et mid- 
nervo infra cum subulato-serrulis 0.2-0. 7 mm 
longis 2-7 mm separatis, pedunculo 13 cm 
longo bracteato, syncarpio solitario, nucleo 13 
cm longo 4.5 cm diametro cylindrico-ellipsoideo 
obtuse deltoideo, phalangibus 5-5.6 cm longis 
3. 3-4. 2 cm latis aurantiaco-luteis crassiter pyri- 
formatis vel cuneato-pyriformatis apice rotun- 
dato (rariter subtruncato) parte % supera 
libera, suturis lateralibus per y 2 _ I parte libera 
distinctis 4-7-angulosis lateribus lateralibus 
laevibus lucidis in sicco palliditer brunneis sub- 
curvatis vel planis, sinibus centralibus apicalibus 
