Flora Medica

PALMACE^.on enlarging till they at length acquire the size of a small apple. Butfew fruit come to maturity on each branch. Jack. Some of the finestSago of Malacca is prepared from the soft cellular substance of thetrunk, before the fructification appears. It forms the principal part ofthe food of the natives of the Poggy islands, off the west coast ofSumatra.1230. Sagus farinifera Roxb. fl. ind. iii. 624, is also found toyield Sago, but of very indifferent quality.1231. Saguerus Rumphii Roxb. fl. ind. iii. 626. (Arengasaccharifera Lzbill. Anon. Marsden,)is said by Dr. Hamilton toproduce another of the finest kinds of Sago.CARYOTA.Leaves pinnated. Flowers monoecious. $ . Sepals 3, imbricated.Petals 3, valvate. Stamens numerous, with the filamentsunited into a very short cup. 5.Sepals and petals each 3, convolute.Ovary 3-celled; stigmas 3, sessile, depressed, connate.Berry 2-celled, 2-seeded. Seeds plano-convex. Albumen cartilaginous,ruminated. Embryo dorsal.1232. C. urens Linn. fl. zeylan. 369. Jacq. fragm. bot. 20.12. f. 1. Roxb. Fl. Ind. iii.625.(Rumph.i. 64. t. 14.t.Rheede i. 15. t. 11.) The East Indies.Trunk straight, often 60 feet high, thick in proportion, columnar, andmarked slightly with the annular cicatrices of the petioles.It growsabout as fast as the cocoa-nut tree, when in a soil and situation congenialto its nature. Leaves pinnate. Leaflets sub-alternate, sessile,obliquely praemorse, the praemorse parts much jagged with sharp points.Spathe many-leaved. Spadix pendulous, from 6 to 16 feet long,branches simple, from 4 to 8 feet long, pretty thickly coveredbranchy ;with innumerable sessile flowers, and these most regularly disposed inthrees ; I male on each side and a single female between them. Malecalyx 3-leaved, cupform; leaflets unequal, concave, of a very firmtexture, permanent. Petals 3, much larger than the calyx, elliptic,concave, of a firm leathery texture, green on the outside, whitish onthe inside. Filaments numerous, very short. Anthers linear. Femaleflowers on the same spadix. Calyx and corolla as in the male. Stamensand nectarial filaments 3, between the corolla and base of the germen,each ending in a glandular enlarged apex. Ovary superior, 3-sided,Style 0. Stigma small, 2-cleft. Berry roundish, 1-celled, of the sizeof a nutmeg, covered with a thin, yellow, acrid bark, but nothing thatdeserves the name of pulp. Seed or nut generally solitary. Roxb.The cellular part of the trunk yields Sago of the finest quality accordingto Roxburgh ; palm wine is also obtained from the trunk in greatabundance.CALAMUS.Leaves pinnated. Flowers dioecious or hermaphrodite. $ Calyx3-dentate, or trifid. Corolla 3-parted, or almost 3-petaled.Stamens 6 ; filaments connate at base ;anthers sagittate.582