KAMAL A. MALIK

Small clump forming palm with a pronounced crownshaft. Stem unarmed, cylindric, annulate, ringed, soboliferous. Leaves pinnatisect, divided into numerous narrow segments. Segments bifid at apex or entire, not racemose. Petiole and rachis grooved above. Inflorescence among the leaves, short and much branched. Flowers dioecious. Male flowers fertile; sepals 3, imbricate; petals 3, valvate; stamens 6, subequal, filaments subulate, briefly inflexed at apex in bud, anthers short broad and dorsifixed; rudimentary ovary conical or columnar, trifid or trilobed at the apex. Female flowers: ovary globose-ovate or oblong; three celled, 1-ovuled, stigma stout, triangular. Fruit small, violet or mealy black, ovoid-ellipsoid or obovoid; fleshy; epicarp very thin, mesocarp fibrous. Seeds oblong-obconical with a basal scar. Endosperm homogeneous, embryo lateral.

A genus with 20 species, distributed in Pemba, Madagascar, Comoro Island; represented in Pakistan by one cultivated species.

Lower Taxon

• Chrysalidocarpus lutescens H. Wendl.