220 ANNALS OP THE HOTAL BOTANIC GAEDEN, CALCÜTrA. [Q, rwalis
flowers on each side, spathels crowded, very broad, bracteiform, spoon-or boatshapsd,
striately veined, acute, furfuraceous-ciliate ; involucre cupular, not very
deep, truncate, shorter than the spathel, scaly-ciliate at the margin, posticously
bi-dentate. Male flowers ovate, i mm. long, rather blunt or sometimes acute,
lialf enveloped by the spathels ; the calyx striately veined, shortly and obtusely
3-Iobate, frequently split irregularly ; corolla oae-tliird longer than the calyx, divided
to a little below the middle into three oblong segmaats ; stamens with filame)it8
highly adnate to the tubular part of the corolla, subulate, in their upper part, and
with inflected tips ; antbers lanceolate, versatile; rudimentary ovary represented by
3 pseudo-cai-pel3 whicb reach to about the middle of tiie anthers and form a olavate
body. Female spadix similar to the male but simply decompound ; partial inflorescences
20-30 cm. long, with 5-10 spikelets on each side, and terminating in
a slender filiform caudate appendix; sscondary spathes tubular, slightly enlarged
above, truncate at the mouth, often aculeolate; spikelets inserted at the mouth
of then- own spatliels, arched and strongly deflexed ; the largest, the lowest,
£ - 6 cm. long with S-10 flowers on each side ; the upper ones gradually but
not much smaller ; spathels very short, very broadly infundibuliform, striately
veined, entire, truncate, acute at one side; involucrophorum subdimidiately cupular,
indistinctly bidentate and two-keeled nest to the axis, attached at the base of
the spathel above its own; involucre cupular, rather deep, truncate, its margin
unequal, undulate or obscurely irregularly lobate or toothed ; areola of the neuter
flower Innate, sharply bordered. Female flowers small, ovate, 3-25-4 mm. long.
Fruiting perianth not pedicelliform, cleft into 3 ovate, acute lobes; its corolla
divided into throe segments as long as those of the calyx, but slightly narrower;
the calyx and corolla conspicuously rusty-furfuraceous. Fruit very broadly ovoid,
suddenly contracted into a stout beak, 7 - 8 mm. broad, and 11 mm. long including
the beak; scales in 18 series, almost shining, not or very faintly channelled along
the middle, pale-yellowish, with obtuse reddisb-browii tip, margins very finely erose
and sometimes slightly tinged with the same colour as the tip. Seed (not
Been perfectly mature ) broadly ovate, convex and alveolate on the back, flattish
with a circular and rather deep chalazal fovea on the raphal side ; albumen equable;
embryo situated a Kttle above the base on the raphal side.
Habitat.—Ceylon: in the southern district, Thwaites C, P. No. 3914; Walker
in Herb. Kew.; Pasdun Körle, Trimen; Koti canal near Colombo, Fergumn.
Observations.—This Calamus shows marked affinities with the following allied
species.
P l a t e 65. Calamus rivalis Thw. An intermediate portion of a leaf (seen
from the lower surface ) and lower portion of a male spadix with an entire
partial inflorescence; from Thwaites' No. 3914 in Herb. Kew.
P l a t e 66.—Calamus livalis Thio, Leaf-sheath with the base of a leaf and
partial inflorescence with almost ripe fruit, from Thwaites' No. 3914 in Herb. Calc.;
two spikelets with ripe fruit and detached seeds, from the same number in Herb.
De Candolle.
BECCAEI. MONOGEAPH OF TIIE GEKUS CALAMUS. 221
C Metz'ianus]
51. Calamus Metzianus Schlecht. in Linnasa, xsvi, (1853), 727; Walp. Ann.
V, 856; Hook. f. Fl, Brit. Ind. vl, 462; Becc. in Eec. Bot. Surv-
Ind. ii, 2 1 7.
C. rudcntum (not of Lour.) Mart. Hist. Nat. Palm, iii, 340.
Dbsceiption.—Stem and leaf-sheaths not seen, but very probably as in C. rivalis.
Leaves not seen entire ; rachis (of the upper portion) more or less furfuraceouS,
acutely trigonous, bifaced and naked above, armed throughout up to the base of
the terminal leaflets with solitary claws, which have a pale, relatively long and
suddenly deflexed point; leaflets numerous, equidistant, 3 cm. apart on each side,
linear-lanceolate, narro^-ing to the base and gradually acuminate into a long and
very slender apex ; the largest and lowest of the poifion of the leaf seen by me
(a terminal portion, about 44 cm. long and probably one-third of the entire leaf)
25-27 em. long, and 15 mm. in width, glabrous and almost of the same colour on
both surfaces, with 3 costulie of which the central is stronger than the side ones
and is bristly spinulous from the middle upwards on botli surfaces, but mainly
beneath where the bristles are longer ; other nerves naked ; margins slightly
thickened by a nerve running along and finely ciliately spinulous mainly towards
the apex; upper leaflets gradually smaller, shorter and more bristly-penicillate than
the others at the apex; the two of the terminal pair about 10 cm. long, very
narrow and entirely free at the base. Male spadix Female, spadix
elongate, flagelliform ; primary spathes very long, narrow, very closely sheathing,
armed with numerous small deflexed scattered acnlei, obliquely truncate at the
mouth and prolonged at one side into a short triangular point; thé axial portion
between two partial inflorescences ( lower portion of the spathes ) elongate, flat
and smooth inside, convex and rather strongly armed with solitary and scattered
or more or less aggregate and fcernate black-tipped claws on the back; partial
inflorescences inserted above the mouth of their respective spathes with a very
distinct axillary callus, very elongate and with many distichous spikelets on each
side; secondary spathes very narrowly tubular-infundibuliform, about 2 cm. long,
smooth or with very few spinules upwards, narrow at the base, where flat on
the inner side, obliquely truncate and entire at the mouth and extended at one side
into a triangular point; spikelets attached just al)0ve the mouth of their own spathe,
strongly arched and recurvcd ; the largest, the lowest, 3-5-4 cm, long, with 8 - 9 flowers
on each side ; the uppermost shorter and with fewer flowers ; spathels shortly and
broadly infundibuliform, narrowed to the base a good deal, ti-uncate and entire at
the mouth, scarcely apiculate at one side, coriaceous, not or indistinctly nerved
and scaiy-furfuraceous externally j involucrophorum almost wholly immersed in its own
spathel and attached at the base of the one above, subdimidiately cupular with
unequal margin, not or indistinctly two-toothed and not very acutely two-keeled on
the side next to the axis ; involucre more or less cupular, with very unequal margin
and often unilaterally evolute ; areola of the neuter flower lunate, rather sharply
bordered. Female flowers about 3 mm. long. Fruiting perianth not pedicelliform,
its calyx split almost to the base into three ovate, rather thick and not very distinctly
striately veined lobes; its corolla with the segments ovate, acute, narrower
than the lobes of the calyx, but as long, rusty and scaly-furfuraeeous externally.