FLORA VITIENSIS, 275 
1 . 
Ale Aer ee ae Se oe Be Palm which F. D. Bennett (‘ A Whaling Voyage round the 
eek oeich sack Pp: ): oe Se erases Gh Islands, and calls Corypha umbraculifera is the 
Eve dic arate : ii Fa iP ee his ae mn,” says Bennett, “so truly Oriental in its appearance, 
needs, ee 7 any of the Polynesian slands we visited, except Santa Christina, Marquesas, where 
Are several topes, or groves, of the species growing in the interior of the valleys. The natives call it 
Vahaina,” Tt resembles the common Fan Palm, or Palmyra (Borassus Alabelliformis), of the Bast Indies, 
and attains the height of thirty-five feet. The trunk is slender, has a white bark, and bears at the summit 
; tut't * broad fan-shaped leaves, from the base of which hang elusters of small globular nuts. The dried 
eaves have uniformly a yellow colour; they ave applied by the Marquesans only to aristocratic purposes, as 
coverings for the huts or burial-places of their chiefs ; although they do not refise to sell them to European 
sailors, who value them, under the name of ‘ trab,’ for the manufacture of hats. The kernel of the nuts is 
eaten as a native delicacy.”” Bennett adds that it also grows in Timor, and is there used for making toddy, 
but in this instance he probably confounds Pritchardia with the true Corypha umbraculifera of Linnzeus. 
Langsdorff also found this Palm in the Marquesas, but I am not aware whether any specimens were pre- 
served. It isa singular ethnological fact, that throughout the Polynesian Islands this Palm is held to be 
exclusively the property of the aristocracy, and not allowed to be devoted to common purposes by the lower 
classes, like the species which it so much resembles. 
Exeranarion or Prarn LXXIX., representing Pritchardia pacifica, Wig. 1, a leaf (much reduced) ; 
2, spathe and spadix (much reduced); 3, portion of spadix (nat. size) ; 4, flower; 5, calyx; 6, corolla; 
7, petal; 5, stamens and pistil; 9 and 10, stamens; 11, pistil; 12, portion of branch with ripe fruit; 13, 
drupe; 14, the same after the outer rind has been removed; 15, section of the same; 16, albumen 
with embryo cavity and hilum; 17, 18, 19, different sections of the same; Fig. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 
L38-L9, magnified. 
V. Cocos, Linn. Gen. n. 1223; Endl. Gen, n.1772. Flores monoici, in codem spadice, spatha 
simplici lignosa, fusiformi v. clavata, ventre aperta et lanceolata cincto sessiles, bracteati; ¢ in parte 
superiore co, 2 in inferiore frequentiores. Fl. ¢: Calyx 3-phyllus, foliolis lanceolatis carinatis, basi 
sepius connatis. Corolla 3-petala, petalis membranaceis y. carnosiusculis, erectis y. conniventibus, 
Stamina 6, e toro basilari; filamenta subulata, subequilonga; anther lineares, suhsagittatee, erectie. 
Ovarii rudimentum minimum v. 0. Fl. ?: Calyx 3-phyllus, foliolis suborbicularibus v. ovatis, 
imbricato-convolutis; corolla 3-petala, petalis membranaceis suborbicularibus imbricato-convolu- 
tis, ut plurimum calyce inclusis. Ovarium ovatum v. depresso-globosum, loculis 2 rudimentariis 
l-loculare. Stylus brevissimus v, 0; stigmata 3, pyramidato-triquetra, primum conniyentia, demum 
revoluta. Drupa ovata elliptica y, ovato-subtrigona, 1-sperma, mesovarpilo crasso fibroso, putamine 
osseo, basi 8-poroso, Albumen equabile v. obsolete radiatum, amygdalinum y. cartilagmeum. Em- 
bryo intra porum basilaris.—Palme; caudice excelso y, mediocri, inermi, annulato y, cicatricato, 
interdum nonnihil flexuoso, seepius petiolorum basibus persistentibus squamato v. coronato, intus 
molli, spongioso ; frondibus omnibus terminalibus, seepius vastis, pinnatis, petiolis basi hose: parties 
amplexicaulibus, nonuunquam spinoso-serratis, pinnis reduplicatis, seepius aggregatis, sibrectos 
patentibus v. crispis, crassiuscule membranaceis, glabris ; spadicum inter bases Frondhratt exteriorum 
sessilium patentium rhachi teretiuscula, scrobiculata, in ramos plurimos simplices divisa ; epaths 
mucronata, dorso longitudinaliter sulcata; floribus masculis ochroleucis v. flayescentibus, femineis 
virescentibus, fructibus quandoque maximis, sicciusculis, viridibus, fuscis v. rubro-flavescentibus. 
1. CG. nucifera, Linn. Fl. Zeyl. p. 391; Mart. Hist. Palm. p. 23, t. 62, 75, 88. fig. 3-6; t. 100, 
fiz, 4; caudice flexuoso, inzequaliter annulato, basi incrassato ; frondibus patentibus, segmentis 
acuminatis, subconcinnis; floribus ? subglobosis ; drupis maximis, ovato-trigonis 
Nomen vernac. Vitiense, ‘ Nin dina,”’—Common on the coasts of most Vitian 
Also throughout tropical Polynesia, and the littoral parts of tropical Asia, 
lineari-lanceolatis 
vy. subglobosis. 
Islands (Seemann !) 
Africa, and America, | 
fhe Cocoa-nut is now found in every part of the tropics, though never much beyond them, chiefly on 
