A flora of Manila - Rainforestation

PALMAE 127
in groups of threes, the upper ones in pairs or solitary. Male flowers:
Sepals minute. Petals ovate, acute, valvate, thinly coriaceous, connate at
the base. Stamens 6, 9, or 12, exserted, the filaments adnate to the base of
the petals. Female flowers smaller than the males. Corolla urceolate,
3-lobed to the middle, the lobes triangular, acute. Staminodes 6, scale-like,
connate. Ovary subglobose, 2-celled. Fruit obovoid or oblong-ovoid, 1-
celled, 1-seeded. (Greek "mountain" and "glory.")
Species 5, in tropical America, 1 now cultivated in many other tropical
countries.
*1. O. REGIA HBK. Royal Palm.
A stout palm reaching a height of 25 to 30 m. Trunk swollen
in the middle, tapering below and above, base swollen, up to 60 cm in
diameter. Leaves crowded at the apex, up to 3.5 long, their sheaths
elongated, imbricate; leaflets very numerous, narrow, 60 to 90 cm long,
acuminate. Spadix 50 to 60 cm long. Staminate flowers 6 to 7 mm long,
the pistillate about one-half as large. Drupe oval-oblong, about 13 mm
long, violet-blue when mature.
Mature specimens in the old Botanical Garden, younger ones now quite
generally distributed about the city. A native of tropical America.
10. NORMAN BYA F. Mueller
Trunk erect, annulate. Leaves pinnate, their sheaths imbricate and
surrounding the top of the stem, the rachis somewhat curved. Inflores-
cence borne just below the sheaths, paniculate, its branches spreading, tke
peduncle short. Flawers in groups of threes on the ultimate branchlets,
sessile, one female between two males. Male flowers symmetric. Calyx cup-
ular, the sepals 3, imbricate. Corolla twice as long as the calyx, the petals
3. Stamens numerous. Rudimentary ovary conspicuous. Female flowers
globose-conical. Sepals strongly imbricate. Petals short, very broad. Ovary
1-celled, 1-ovuled. Fruit drupaceous, the pulp thin, the seed with
ruminated albumen, the calyx somewhat accescent and surrounding the
base of the fruit. (In honor of Normanby.)
Species 2, 1 in New Guinea, 1 in the Philippines.
1. N. merrillii Becc. Bunga de China, Bunga de Jolo (Tag.).
A rather slender palm reaching a height of 5 to 6 m, the trunk about
25 cm in diameter, marked with annular scars. Leaves about 2 m long,
strongly arched, the sheaths cylindric, about 0.5 m long; leaflets about 50
on each side, narrowly lanceolate, about 70 cm long and 4 to 5 cm wide.
Spadix forming a divaricately branched glaucous panicle, 40 to 50 cm long.
Male flowers 10 to 12 mm long. Fruit bright-red, elliptic-ovoid, smooth,
3 cm long, pulp scanty, the mesocarp fibrous.
Commonly cultivated, fl. at most seasons; probably a native of Palawan.
Endemic.
11. ARECA Linnaeus
Trunk erect, rather slender, tall, annulate. Leaves pinnate, their sheaths
imbricate and surrounding the top of the stem. Inflorescence borne just
below the sheaths, finely branched. Male flowers numerous, very small.
Sepals small. Petals obliquely lanceolate, valvate. Stamens 3 or 6 ; anthers
basifixed. Female flowers much larger, few at the base of the branches,
the perianth enlarging. Sepals and petals orbicular, imbricate, the latter