1 7 8 ANIJAIS OF THE BOYAL B0TA:TIC G ^ D E N , CALCUTTA. JAVENSIS
roinded base and vertex topped by a cylindrical beak, this 1-5-2 mm. long; scales
in 20-21 eeries. Seed about 1 cm. long and 7 mm. thick.
HABITAT.—Java and Sumatra. It seems common on the mountains between
2ÖO-1500 m. in "Western Java, where it receives the name of ' H u j (Hooe) Omash'
or ' Ommas,' {Blume) ; at Tapos in the forests of Mt. Patuha {Junjhuhn), where it is
known by the name of ' Rotang Tjatjing or GhacMng'; in Bantam at Pasir Orai
{Forbes No. 258 in Calc. Herb.). In Sumatra {Forhes No, 2507 in Calc. Herb.)—It
produces one of the more slender and more esteemed Rotangs, much employed
for tying, basket-making, matting, etc.
OBSKRVATIONS.—This is a very variable species, perhaps the most polymorphic of
the entire genus, and with a relatively wide geographical distribution, growing in the
Malayan Peninsula and Borneo as well as Java and Sumatra. The type must be
considered the Javan plant described and figured by Blume; the variety ß of this
author seems to me one of the usual forms of the type. A form with narrower
leaflets tbau usual is that figured in Plate 113 uf Martius' Uist. Nat. Palmarum;
and indeed C. javensii even in Java varies very much in the size and relative
breadth of the leaflets. I have not thought it necessary to give a detailed
descriptive of the type of C. javensis as I have more fully described the var.
peninsularis of which I had more complete specimens at my disposal and with
which it agrees in most of its characters.
CALAMUS JAVESSIS eubvar. EXILIS Becc.
DESCBiPTioy.—Sheathed stem very slender, 4-5 mr
{17 cm.}. Leaflets very narrow ( l ' 5 - 2 em. broad).
diam. Petiole elongat«
HABITAT.—Java, Rcinwardt in Martius' Herbarium at Munich.
OBSKRVATIONS.—I do not know if this is a constant or a transitory form. The
only specimen I have seen probably belongs to a rather young plant growing on
kigh mountains. This variety may be considered as the Javan representative of
var. ienuissimus of the form peninsularis.
CALAMUS JAVENSIS var. PENINSULAEIB Becc. in Hook. f. TL. Brit. Ind. vi, 442,
and in Ree. Bot. Surv. Ind. ii, 201.
C. penicillatus Roxb. Fl. Ind. iii, 781.
DESCRIPTION.—Scandent, very slender, 3-10 m. high. Sheathed stem 5-10
mm. in diam. Leaf-sheaths sometimes flagslliferous, slightly gibbous above, always
move or less distinctly striate longitudinally, armed with solitary scattered rather
numerous or scanty spines, which are short or 7-8 ram. long, usually straight with
a broad base, flat beneath, horizontal or sometimes with a tendency to become
hooked, often scurfy at the margins. Ocrea membranous, 10-15 mm. long, unarmed,
and with long fibrous cilia at the margin when young, brittle and falling to pieces
later. Leaf-sheaih Hagella inserted near the mouth of the sheath in opposition to the
petiole, callous at the base, fiKform, rather long, with the lowest spathe slightly
flattened and usually smooth, but sometimes sparsely aculeate on the back. Leaves
-»hort, 30-50 cm. long, not cirriferous; petiole very short or nearly wanting; raebia
C. javensis"] BECCAEI. MORROOEAPH OF THE GENOS CALAMUS. 17&
obsoletely bifaced above, rather densely armed beneath along the middle and at
the sides with rather slender claws, which are usually scattered or 2-3-nate (mainly
upwards) and sometimes near the apex half-wliorled. Leaflets very few, 3-6 on each
side, inequidistant, often opposite or euboppostte, but never grouped on one side, of
very variable shape but always relatively large in proportion to their length,
lanceolate, oblong-lanceolate, and more frequently elliptic or ovate-elliptic, the largest
(the intermediate) 15-18 cm. long, and 3-6 cm. broad, rigidulous, papyraceous,
glabrous, green or occasionally vinous-purpurascent, faintly paler beneath, narrowed to
the base, where acute, rather suddenly acuminate into an acute tip (this bristlypcnicillate
when young), furnished, at almost equal distances, wifh 3 primary costie;
these all reaching the apex and of about the same strength, acute and raised above,
less prominertt beneath, smooth (not spinulous or bristly) on both surfaces, with one
slender but distinct secondary nerve interposed between cach of them and the
margins; transverse veinlets distinct, very crowded and continuous; margins acute,,
smooth throughout except at the extreme apex whore ciliate; the lower margin often
bordered on the upper surface with a narrow polished band; tlie two leaflets of the
terminal pair somewhat longer, broader and more enlarged towards the apex than
the side ones, connate iu the lower two-thirds of their length; the basal pair, and
sometimes the next, smaller than the upper ones and inserted very near the mouth
of the aheath, distinctly callous and as if they were articulated at the base,
strongly deflexed, concave and often the two connivent and almost embracing the
stem. Male spadix simply decompound or partially ultradecompound, inserted with
a conspicuous basal callus near the mouth of the sheath opposite the loaf, or
nearly so, very variable in length (from 60 cm. to 3 m.) flagelliform, very
delicate and slender, with few (3-4) or in very robust specimens, even 10-12
partial inflorescences and not terminated by a flagellum, but by a very slender
filiform aculeolate appendix, which is a few cm. long, shorter and more slender
than the nearest inflorescence; primary spathes very narrow and long and
very strictly sheathing; the lowest slightly flattened, more or less acuto at the
side, almost unarmed, terminating in a very narrow acuminate limb keeled
on the back; the upper cylindrical, more or less aculeolate throughout, very
long-attenuate at the base, where the axis is reduced to a slender thread and is
flat on one side and armed on the convex back with scattered or confluent,
but not regularly half-whorled claws; partial inflorescences divaricate, horizontal
or deflected by a very conspicuous axillary callus; they vary in length from
10 to 50 cm. and have (he axis slender, straight or slightly sinuous, hear 2-7
spikelota on each side and terminate in a spikelefc larger than the side ones;
secondary spathes very narrowly tuhular-infundihuliform, striately veined, smooth
or aculeolate, obliquely truncate at the mouth, where usually but not always
ciliolate, more or less prolonged at one side into an acute point; spikeleta
•usually straight or slightly flexuous, inserted horizontally a few ram. above the
mouth of their own spathe, slightly deflected by a distinct axillary callus, delicate,
flattened, 3-5 cm. long or at most in very robust plants 8-10 cm. and with 10-20
up to 40-50 flowers on each side; spathels rather crowded, shortly and very
broadly infundibuliform, rather strongly striately veined, produced at one side into
a short acute point; involucre cupular, truncate, acutely bidentate and two-keeled on
A N S . EOT. BOT. GAUD. CALCUTTA VOL. X I .