Scheelea
(named in honour of Scheele, a celebrated German chemist). ORD. Palmae. A genus consisting of about seven species of dwarf or tall, unarmed, stove Palms, natives of tropical America. Flowers yellowish-white, diocious, or on the same spadix monoecious; spathes two, the upper one fusiform, woody, acuminate; spadices long, very shortly pedunculate, with rather short, nearly erect branches. Fruit rather large, oblong or ovoid, one to three-seeded. Leaves terminal, pinnatisect; segments in series or aggregate, linear, in young plants obtuse and unequally bifid at apex, with incurved lobes (in adults entire ?), one-nerved, the margins recurved at base; rachis convex at back, acute above; petioles concave above; sheath short, opening. The under-mentioned species have been introduced to cultivation in this country. A compost of peat and loam, in about equal parts, with the addition of a little sand, is suited to their requirements. The plants may be increased by seeds. S. unguis is well adapted for room decoration, and, when older, for exhibition purposes.
S. excelsa (tall).* fl., spathe costate; spadix simply and sparsely branched, 3ft. long, the branches 4in. to 6in. long; inflorescence axillary. fr. ovoid, apiculate. l. 15ft. to 24ft. long, elliptic, pinnatifid; leaflets linear, acute, glaucous beneath, about 180 on each side, aggregate in twos, threes, or fives, the upper ones solitary and alternate, 3ft. long, 2in. broad; petioles channelled. Trunk 40ft. to 50ft. high, glabrous, annulate, 2ft. to diameter, the wood reddish. Venezuela, 1826.
S. imperialis (imperial). l. pinnate when mature; in the young state simple, linear-lanceolate, elongated, arching, of a bright colour, and plaited. United States of Colombia, 1875. This is only known in the young state. S. insignis (remarkable). fl., spathe spongy-woody, thick, 2ft. long, terminated by a mucro 4in. to 6in. long; female spadix similar to the male, but more robust. l. 8ft. to 10ft. long; lower pinnae aggregate in fours or fives; middle ones eight or more together; upper ones nearly solitary and opposite, linear-lanceolate, obtuse with a short acumen, not crisped, 1 1/2ft. or more long. Trunk straight, 50ft. to 60ft. high. Quito, &c. SYN. Maximiliana insignis.
S. unguis (clawed).* l. erect, 2ft. to 6ft. or more in length; pinnae about 1ft. long and 1in. broad, of a rich deep green, and reaching nearly to the base of the petiole; petioles sheathing at base, and clothed somewhat sparingly at the edges with brown fibres. A superb plant, described here as it appears in a young state, without any stem.