phytelephantinæ

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A tribe of palms, distinguished by the confluence of the ovaries in fruit into a globose syncarp, and including the two genera Phytelephas and Nipa, both very different from all other palms and from each other, but alike in their growth from partly or wholly prostrate stems, their corneous albumen, and their flowers of one or both sexes crowded upon long drooping spadices resembling catkins.