3 1 2 ANNALS OF THE EOYAL BOT.VNIC G-ARDEÎÎ. C-UiCUTTA. [C. trauancori'cuS'
attached at the base of the oue above, calyculiform, slightly concave, sub trigonous,
3-dentate. Male flowers oblong, cylindraceous or very obsoletely trigonous, obtuse or
subapiculate, 3*5 mm. long; the calyx campanulate, striately veined, -with 3 short
"broadly triangular acute teeth ; the corolla more than twice aa long aa tho calyx,
divided down to its lower third«part into oblong, rather acute, extLTnally polished'
aegments; stamens with filaments united by their bases, subulate, inflected at the
apex in the bud; anthers sagittate, acute; rudimentary ovary as long as the connate
part of the filaments. Female spadix simply decompound, similar to tho male one
but with fewer inflorescences (3 in one opeciraen); these small with a very sinuous
axis and 4 distichous spikelets on each side ; primary and secondary spathea as in
the male spadix; spikelets small, the larger ones 12-15 mm. long with a very
sinuous axis and very few ( 3 - i ) distant flowers on each side ; spathels elongate,
uarrow, angular and curved in their lower portion, infundibulifovm, acute or
acuminate at the summit ; involucrophorum shortly pedicclliform, distinctly callous at
its axilla uext to the axis, horizontally subtended by its own spathel and attached
at the base of the one above, with a very short discoid limb ; involucre calyculifoi
m, suborbicular, slightly concave ; areola of the neuter flower depressed, linear.
Female jlowers conic-ovoid, S'o mm. long; the calyx flat and callous at the base,
strongly striately veined outside, shortly 3-toothed ; segments of the corolla slightly
longer than the calyx, lanceolate, acute, polished outside ; stamens with filaments
united by tlieir bases and in the free portion triangular subulate; anthers large,
sagittate. Keuier flowers narrower but slightly longer than the female ones, with
the corolla twice as long as the calyx. Fruiting perianth probably pedicelliform, as
the calyx is already callous at the base during anthesis. Fi'uit not seen by rae:
in Rheede's plate globose-ovoid, 8-10 mm. long, mucronulate.—The different parts
of the. plant, except the leaflets, mora or less fiigaciously rusty-furfuraceous.
HABITAT.—Lower India: Malabar, Rheede. Rediscovered by Major Beddome in-
Travancore (Herb. Kew.) and by Lavmn. (Herb. Calc.),
OBSERVATIOSS.—This spocies of which llheede had givcQ a figure which is very
good for its time, had not been found again till lately. A good male specimen
existed, however, at Kew from Griflith's Herbarium bearing the No. 1141 and
probably coming from Dr. Wight.
Very distinct by its slender stem; the sheaths armed with slender prickles; the
short leaves with not numerous, very distinctly grouped narrowly oblanceolate leaflets^
recalling much in their arrangement those of G. gracilis (to which lihcede's figure
had been attributed by Griffith); by the long slender spadices with spathes longer
than the small inflorescences, enfolding these at first and then more or less bursting
longitudinally; and by the pedicelliform involucrophomm of the female spikelets.
PLATE 121.—Calamus travancoricus Bedd. An entire leaf: lower surface; portion
of a female spadix (on the right hand side) ; an entire male spadix (the above
figures from Beddome's specimens in Herb. Kew.); portion of the stem with aa
entire flagellum and base of a leaf, from Lawson's specimen in Herb. Gale.
C. Rheedei.'\ BECCABI. MONOGEAPH OF THE GENDS CALAMUS. 3 1 3
100. CALAMUS RHEEDEI Griff, in Calc. Journ. Nat. Hist, v, 73, and Palme Brit
Ind. 36 and 83; H. Wendl. in Kerch. Les Palm., 237; Hook, f!
Fl. Brit. Ind. vi, 452 ; Becc. in Kcc. Bot. Surv. Ind. ii, 207.
Daemonorops Rheedei Mart. Hi st. Na t . Palm, iii, 33 0 ; Miq. r i . I n d . Ba t . ,
iii, 100; Walp. Ann., iii, 479, and v, 82i
Katu-isjurel, Rheede Hort. Mai. xii, 123, pi. LXV.
DESCRIPTION.—Scandent slender or of moderate size (?). Stem Leafsheaihs
Leaves not cirriferous, petiole and rachia rather densely clawed ;
leaflets not numerous, narrowly lanceolate, unicostate (?J, gradually attenuate at the
base, acuminate, distinctly grouped in 4 fascicles with long vacant spaces intei-posed,
the fascicles of three, of which apparently one leaflet of each group on one side of
the rachis and two of tho other ; 5 leaflets terminate the rachis ; the two of the
terminal pair free at the base. Female spadiz elongate, clawed in its axial portions,
with a few dense paniculate remote partial inflorescences which are shorter than the
flat open spathes. Fruit ovoid or ellipsoid, about 2 cm. long, 12 mm. broad
shortly beaked.—Description from Rheede's plate.
HABrrAT.—Malabar, Rheede.
OBSERVATIONS.—It seems allied to C. travancoricus from which it differs in the
longer leaves with fewer larger and unicostat« (?) leaflets, which point different,
ways; in the more strougly armed leaf-raehis and spadix; and in the larger ellipsoid
fruit. As is stated in the Flora of British India, I think that a Calamus fruit sent
from Malabar to Kew by Major Campbell exactly corrresponds to Rheede's figure.
This fruit, 20-22 mm. long (without the persistent pedicelliform perianth) and 12-15
mm. broad, is some-what variable in shape, ovoid, broader at the base than above,
or ovoid-elliptic, very suddenly contracted at the summit into a short and thick mucro,.
and is furnished at its base with a short acute caudiculum, which penetrates into
the perianth; scales very numerous, in 27 longitudinal series, not channelled along
the middle, cinnamon-brown, dusty-puberoulus near their base (under a f>ood lens),
with a rather elongate darker chestnut-brown shining not very appressed and not
fimbriate tip, the margins very acute not or indistinctly erosely-toothed ; seed 14-15
mm. long, 9 mm. broad, 5 ram. thick, oblong, flattened, irregularly wrinkled or
alveolate, superficially on the surface with an indistinct and superficial chalazal fovea ;
albumen equable with very superficial intrusion of the integument; embryo basal.
The female flowers, judging from the fruiting perianth, are about 6 mm. long;
this ¿forms to the fruit a pedicel of about 4 mm. long, has the calyx campanulate^
S'5 mm. thick, polished in its lower portion (which is immersed in the involucre),
with 3 triangular acute teeth; the segments of the corolla, slightly longer than the
calyx, opaque and finely striately veined outside.
Rheede (1. c., p. 123) writes that the seed of this Calamus dried and powdered
"geiiuum ulcera sanat." Mart. Hist. Nat. Palm, iii, 208, on the authority of
Roxburgh, had at first reduced the Kutu-tsjurel to C. gracilis, but later (1. c. p. 330),.
following Griffith, has considered it as a distinct species. *
AJÎK. ROT. BOT. GAUD. CALCUTTA TOI,. X I.