530 
PACIFIC SCIENCE, VoL XXI, October 1967 
Fig. 2433. Pandanus darwinensis St. John, from holotype. Young trees and a detached syncarp. 
specimens examined: Australia, Queens- 
land, Green Island, off Cairns, beach forest with 
Erythrina, Cordia subcordata, Morinda citri- 
folia, Feb. 9, 1958, EL St. John 26,269 (bish); 
Percy I., Dec. 1870, McGeorge (mel); South 
Brooke L, G. Tandy (a); cult., Botanic Garden 
(Brisbane), C. T. White 3,332 (a). 
discussion: P. adscendens is a member of 
the section Pandanus , as is its closest relative 
P. Blakei St. John, also of Green L, a species 
with the phalanges with the central apical 
sinuses 1.5-3 mm deep; carpels 9-12; prop 
roots sparingly muriculate; leaves 8-8.5 cm 
wide, and the midrib below unarmed to beyond 
the middle. P. adscendens has the phalanges 
with the central apical sinuses 3-6 mm deep; 
carpels 6-13; prop roots warty; leaves 5-7 cm 
wide, and the midrib below beginning at 15- 
20 cm up with ascending slender subulate 
prickles 1.6-2. 2 mm long, and 13-45 mm apart. 
The new epithet is the Latin participle ad- 
scendens, ascending, and is given with reference 
to the direction of the lower spines of the 
leaves. 
Pandanus darwinensis St. John (sect. Pan- 
danus) 
Fig. 243 a, h 
An isotype of this species is found in the 
collections of Martelli in Firenze. With it is a 
letter from the collector, C. E. F. Allen, Super- 
intendent of Agriculture, Darwin, Northern 
Territory, Australia, and two excellent photo- 
graphs. These are reproduced here by permis- 
sion of the Istituto Botanico, Firenze. From 
them the following additional details of descrip- 
tion can be derived. 
expanded diagnosis: Trees up to 6 m in 
height; trunk erect, simple, at length forking 
into erect branches; prop roots, if any, short; 
bark rather smooth; leaves ascending, then 
spreading, not becoming bent; infructescence 
with a single syncarp; peduncle about 63 cm 
long, recurving; syncarp 28 cm long, 21 cm in 
diameter, wide ellipsoid, bearing about 26 
phalanges. 
The type locality is near Darwin, Northern 
Territory, and the photographs reveal that the 
species is littoral on marine shores. 
