Nengella
(a diminutive of Nenga). ORD. Palmae. A small genus (two or three species) of low, unarmed, stove Palms, with reedlike, annulate stems, natives of the Malayan Archipelago and New Guinea. Flowers small, the females shorter than the males; complete spathes two, elongated, membranous, complanate, deciduous; spadix slender, pendulous, slightly flexuous; bracts and bracteoles scale-formed. Fruit small, elongated. Leaves terminal, equally pinnatisect or flabelliform and furcate; upper segments truncate, many-nerved, erose or cut; lower ones linear-lanceolate, long-acuminate; margins recurved at base; rachis and petiole trigonal. N. paradoxa, the only species in cultivation, requires a compost of loam and leaf soil, to which some sharp sand or charcoal should be added. As the plants become established, more loam should be added than when they were in a young state. Propagated by imported seeds. N. paradoxa (paradoxical). l. 12in. to 18in. long, about 8in. broad; petiole with a long, striate, rusty-coloured sheath; blade pinnate; pinnules, 6in. to 8in. long, very unequal. Stem slender, 5ft. to 7ft. high; crown consisting of six or eight leaves.