Bandanus. ] 
pandanetE. (I. B. Balfour.) 
403 
15. P. multispicatus, Balf. fil. A shrub 6-12 feet high, 
branching freely, sometimes decumbent. Leaves bright green, 1-5 
feet long, 1-1J in. broad, tapering to a long point, densely spiny on 
the margins and midrib beneath. Female heads 6-8 in a dense spike, 
oblong-trigonous, 2 inches long, an inch broad, each containing 200- 
400 drupes and placed in the axis of a persistent leaflike bract. Drupes 
1-celled, £ in. long, ± in. broad, free in the upper third, each sur- 
rounded by a whorl of filaments ; apex pyramidal ; stigma reniform, 
stipitate, in. broad. Endocarp smooth, occupying nearly the whole 
of the drupe ; mesocarp thin, fibrous. 
Seychelles, on the banks of streams and frequently on the tops of hills, 
especially in Mahe, Horne ! Endemic. Vacua du Riviere. 
16. P. conglomeratus, Balf. fil. A small tree, 12-15 feet 
high, with a slender trunk, semi- decumbent and sparingly branched. 
Leaves 3-12 feet long, 2-5 inches broad, narrowed gradually to a 
point, pale green, with the midrib and edges armed with long 
white unequal ascending spines ; blade slightly reduplicate on each side 
of the midrib. Female heads above ten on the same peduncle, all 
sessile except the lowest, oblong, 6-8 in. long, 2|-3f in. broad, the 
uppermost smaller, globose. Drupes 3-6-celled, 1-lf in. long, £ in. 
broad, regularly 5 -6-angled, slightly compressed, free in the upper third ; 
free portion regularly dome-shaped, slightly flattened at the top ; 
stigmas distant, ovoid, oblique, in. broad, obscurely mucronate ; 
endocarp medial, sending out copious fibres into the mesocarp. 
Seed in. long. 
Mauritius, on the banks of streams at Midlands and Beau Bassin, Bouton ! 
Horne ! Endemic. 
Order CIV*. AROIDEiE. 
Flowers sessile on a cylindrical spadix, either covering the whole or 
leaving the top part and sometimes the centre naked, monochlamydeous 
or achlamydeous, unisexual or hermaphrodite or some neuter. 
Perianth when present of 4-8 valvate segments. Stamens free or 
connate ; filaments 0 or very short ; anthers 2-celled, opening by slits or 
pores. Ovary 1- or more-celled ; placentation various ; ovules various 
in number and structure ; style simple, often absent ; stigma capitate. 
Fruit baccate. Seed albuminous. — Herbs usually with creeping or 
tuberous rootstocks ; leaves net-veined, often hastate ; the spadices 
enclosed in persistent or deciduous spathes. Distrib. Mainly tropical 
in both hemispheres. Species 1000. 
The three genera naturalised in our bounds all belong to the tribe 
Oaladiece , marked by achlamydeous monoicous flowers and many- 
celled anthers with a columnar connective. 
2 d 2 
