Bora^ms.] 
CLVI. PALMACEJ 7 . 
71 
29 . BORASSUS, Linn. 
Stem solitary, stout, unarmed. Leaves very stif¥, fan-shaped, 
multifid; petiole spiny or not. Spadices very large, simply 
branched; peduncle sheathed with open spathes. Male with many 
cylindric stout branches covered with imbricating bracts enclosing 
spikelets of minute flowers. Sepals 3. Petals shorter obovate 
spathulate truncate. Stamens 6. Female spadix few-branched; 
flowers large, globose, scattered. Sepals reniform; petals smaller. 
Staminodes 6 to g. Fruit large globose with 3 pyrenes. 
Species of Africa, Madagascar, India, Malaya, and Papua. 
(i) B. Machadonis RidL Journ. Roy. As. Soc. Sr. Br. 44, p. 23 ; 
Mat. ii. 221. Borassodendron Machadonis Becc. Wehbia, iv. 359. 
Stem tall and nearly as thick as a coconut palm. Petioles 12 
to 15 ft. long, unarmed; leaf-blade 6 ft. long, 4 ft. wide, split 
nearly to base into linear-acuminate lobes. Male spikes 3, 14 in. 
long, 1*25 in. thick. Calyx *25 in. long, as long as bract. Corolla 
lobes 3, linear. Female spadix i ft. long; peduncle 3 in. long; 
flowers about 20. Bracts 2 semi-circular, i in. long, edge lacerate, 
orange. Pyrenes v'oody, hairy, 3 in. long, i in. through. Hab. 
Rare and local in forests. Perak, in dense forest at Kamuning, 
Sungei Siput (Machado). Distrib. Siam. Native name: Chang- 
kai. 
B. flabellifer Linn. Sp. pi. 1187, the Lontar of Malacca or Palmyra palm 
is often found near Hindu temples and towns near the sea, introduced by 
Hindus. The native name is said to be from Lon, an old form of Pohon 
(tree) and Tah, a form of Tal, the Hindu name for the tree. Beccari, l.c. p. 
321, separates this plant from B. fiabeUifer under the name of B. snndaica. 
30 . NIPA, Wurmb. 
Tidal river plant, stems creeping in mud, very thick. Leaves 
pinnate, very large; leaflets narrow. Inflorescence sub-terminal, 
on short peduncles covered with sheathing leaves. Male flowers 
in catkins with setaceous bracts. Sepals linear, tips broad indexed; 
petals similar, smaller. Stamens 3, filaments short cuneate. Female 
flowers in a head. Carpels 3. Fruit an enormous head of obovoid 
compressed irregular carpels, tops pyramidal angled, i-celled, 
i-seeded. Albumen soft, lining the testa. Species i. India, 
Ceylon, Malaya to Australia; fossil in the London Clay of England, 
one species being very closely allied to or identical with N. frnticans. 
(i) N. fruticans Wnrmb. Verb. Bat. Genootsch. i. 349; Bl. 
Rimphia, iii. 76, pis. 164, 165; Ridl. Mat. ii. 158. 
Creeping stem, branched, 3 ft. through, grey, ringed. Leaves 
15 to 20 ft. tall, erect, glaucescent beneath. Inflorescence 2 to 3 
ft. long. Bracts orange, Male spikes 2 in. long. Fruit about 2 ft. 
through, dark brown, Hab. Tidal rivers all along the Peninsula 
in mud. Native name: Nipah. Uses: The leaves form the best 
ataps for roofing, the leaflets of unexpanded leaves form cigarette- 
papers, sugar and alcohol are obtained from the flower-spikes, 
