Roscheria
(no doubt commemorative, but name not explained by its author). ORD. Palmae. A monotypic genus. The species is a slender, erect, stove palm, with many aerial roots. It requires cultivation similar to that recommended for Phoenix (which see).
R. melanochaetes (black-spined). fl. in two-flowered clusters, spirally arranged on very slender branches of a compoundly branching spadix in the axil of a leaf, with a long, compressed, glabrous peduncle. fr. black, elliptical, about 1/5in. long. l. pale green, 3ft. to 5ft. long, 2ft. to 3ft. broad, entire when young, becoming unequally pinnate; pinnae 1ft. to 1 1/2ft. long, bifid at the apex, scaly below; petioles 1 1/2ft. to 2 1/2ft. long, smooth, sub-triquetrous, grooved down the face with a pale band; sheaths 1 1/2ft. to 2 1/2ft. long, with a few fine black spines rising from a compressed cushion. Stem 2in. to 3in. in diameter, with a ring of spines below each leaf-scar when young. h. 15ft. to 25ft. Seychelles, 1871. SYN. Verschaffeltia melanochaetes (I.H. 1871, 54).