1 Fus., 1898.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 129 
Botany. 
CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE QUEENSLAND FLORA. ° 
By IF. MANSON BAILEY, F.L.S., 
Colonial Botanist. 
Order PALMA. 
HY DRIASTELE, Wendl. et Drude. 
HI. costata, Bail. (n. sp.). (Referring to the prominent ribs on the fruit.) 
The tree Mr. Jardine had cut down for the specimens he sent me stood 87 ft. 
high, the trunk circumference being 41 in. Leaves glabrous, except for a 
dense, close wool which clothes the lower part of the petioles and sheaths ; 
sometimes a very slight patch may be seen upon the rhachis. The rhachis 
above the 1 or 2 ft. petiole from 8 to 11 ft. long, 14 in. broad near the base, 
from which it tapers upwards, the upper portion laterally compressed. Seg- 
ments all free, the apical ones very narrow and shortly decurrent but not 
confluent; the lowest also very narrow and distant, about 60 on each side, 
those of the centre of the leaf 3 ft. (not interrupted as in H. Douglasiana, 
Bail.), folded and attached to the sides of the rhachis, tapering to almost 
filiform ends. Inflorescence below the leaves, in a pendulous dense flagelliform 
panicle ; the common peduncle about 1% in. long, showing. the scars from 
whence 2 or 8 bracts, or the spatha and two bracts, had fallen, the portion of 
‘the peduncle which clasps the stem much thickened, primary branches short, 
thick, flattened, or angular, the ultimate spikes 15 to 18 in. long, densely 
eovered with fruit (no flowers seen). Perianth under the fruit about 2 lines 
diameter, segments broad, the inner ones twice as long as the outer ones, and 
are not so spreading as in H. Wendlandiana. Fruit when dry oval-oblong, 
about 4 lines long, very dark and glossy, with many prominent light-coloured 
longitudinal ribs, some of which are shorter than the others. Embryo basal, 
erect, albumen not ruminate. 
Hab. : Somerset, Cape York Peninsula, Frank L. Jardine. After a careful examination and 
comparison of the two Queensland species of this genus with a few dried fruits and a single leaf- 
segment, given to me by the late Baron Mueller, of the Liverpool River species, and the description 
of H. Wendlandiana, W. et D., I am fully convinced that they are specifically distinct from 
that species. In fruit, H. Douglasiana, Bail., somewhat closely resembles H. Wendlandiana ; 
but there is a wide difference in foliage, the terminal segments of both being confluent at the base. 
H. costata differs in that the leaf-segments are all free, and the fruit has much more prominent 
ribs than the other species ; some of the ribs are thick, almost corky, their light colour contrasting 
strongly with the dark, almost black, fruit (at least when dry). The pretty red fruits of the 
other two species dry a pale colour. ; 
ARCHONTOPH@NIX, Wendl. et Drude. 
A. Jardinei, Bail. (Referred to in my contributions to Queensland 
Flora, Queensland Agricultural Journal, Vol. 1., Part 3.) Described by Mr. 
Jardine as a tree of 32 ft. in height, with a stem circumference of 12 in. 
‘Leaves pinnate, glabrous, 5 to 8 ft. long from top of sheath to apex, the 
petiole or portion without segments only about from 6 to 9 in.; sheath 
probably long, but only 16 in. of it upon the specimens to hand, withont the 
torn, loose fibrous matter, common to many palms, closely sheathing the stem 
and ending on the opposite side of the stem in an erect point 2 or 3 in. long 
