3 2 2 ANNALS OF THE EOYAL BOTANIC GAEDEW, CALCUTTA. DIEPENHOFSTU.
caudiculato at the base; scales in 18 series, regularly rhomboid, about as long as
broad and not prolonged at the apex, almost obtuse, rather opaque, channelled along
the middle, stra-w-yellowish, bordered all round with a very aarrow very dark line;
•margins very fiuely erosely toothed. Seed oblong, rounded at both ends, 16 mm.
long, 7 mm. thick, somewhat compressed, rather deeply ruminate; embryo lateral, ia
the centre of one of the faces.
HABITAT.—On the Tenasserim coast at Chappedong, WalUck No. 8606 B in
Herb. Kew.
OBSERVATIONS.—Martins has given the name C. melanacanthus to the specimtjns
distributed by "Wallich with the No. 8606 A, B. But two very distinct species are
represented under this number.
The specimens No. 8606 bearing the letter A and doubtfully said to come from
Penang seem to me to belong to C. Diepenhorstii; while to those with the letter B
from Chappedong I have kept the name of C. melanaaanihts, as Martius has figured
one fruit of these very specimens in the plate 1L6, f. 13.
The specimen seen, described aod figured by me is one with Wallich's No. 8606 B,
preserved in the Herbarium at Kew; it consists of the upper portion o£ a
leaf and of a portion of the female spadix with only one partial inflorescence and a
few almost mature fruits.
ives with narrowly lanceolate
elliptic fruit, rumiuate seed, and
It appears a very distinct species, hy its
numerous equidistant leaflets, elongate female
lateral embryo.
This species ou account of the position of the embryo approaches C. gracilis,
but this has in equidistant fascicled leaflets. In C. Diepsnhorstii the embryo is at the
base of the seed.
PLATS 125.—Calamus melanacanthus Mart. Upper portion of a leaf and portion
of the fruit-spadis; one seed longitudinally cut through the embryo; portion of the
surface of the fruit enlarged; from Wallich's No. 8606 B in Herb. Kew.
105. CALAMUS DIEPENHORSTII Miq. in Journ. de BOT. Neerl. i, 21, and Prodr.
Fl. Sum. 594 and De Palmis Arch. Ind. 27; Hook. £. Fl. Brit.
Ind. vi, 454; Becc. in Rec. Bot. Surv. Ind. ii, 208.
DESCBIPTIOS.—High scandent, slender or of moderate size. Sheathed stem 1-5-3
cm. in diam., intemodes 20-25 cm. long. Leaf-sheaths sometimes flagellifcrous,
slightly gibbous above or furnished under the petiole with 1-2 ti-ansverse not Tory
prominent wriukles, more or leas densely armed with flat, thinly laminar, broad, sub-
Janceolate, 1-2 cm. long, elastic, black, horizontal or slightly deflexed solitary or
seriate spines, which have fringed furfuraceous margins and a callous swollen light
base, this with a sharp line of demarcation from the black lamina. Ocr$a in leaves
of adult plants very short. Leaf-sheath fiagella very long but relatively feebly clawed,
-with their basal spathe more or less flattened and two-edged, the edges armed with
C. Diepenhorstii.'] BECCABL MONOGEAPH OF THE GENUS CALAKUS. 323
straight horizontal short spines, the faces smooth or prickly. Leaves not cirriferous
elongate, •7-l'4 m, long; petiole rather robust and long (30 cm. and sometimes
even more), channelled near its base, otherwise flat and smooth above, its margins
acute and armed with black-tipped rather closoly set claws which extend to the
sides of the first portion of the rachis; rounded beneath where armed, especially
along the middle, with similarly black-tipped solitary claws, which pass unchanged but
more approximate and decreasing in size through the whole length of the rachis; in
its upper surface the rachis is smooth and not very acutely bifaced; leaflets
numerous, rather closely set, equidistant, alternate, narrow and elongate or liaearensiform,
attenuate at the base, long-acuminate into a very slender and subulate
tip, thinly papyraceous, subconcolorous on both surfaces, unicostate; the mid-costa acute
and raised above, where sprinkled from the middle upwards with a few bristles;
secondary nerves all smooth above, one of these on each side of the mid-costa sometimes
slightly stronger than the others; on the undersurface the mid-costa and one
nerve on each side of it furnished with long black conspicuous bristles; margins
slightly thickened by a secondary nerve, ciliate near the apex with a few black
approximate bristles, otherwise smooth (not spinulous or ciliate); transverse veinleta
slender; the largest leaflets, the mesial, 35-38 cm. and in very robust leaves even
45 cm. long, 15-18 mm. broad, the upper ones gradually shorter, the two of the
terminal pair free at the base, very narrow, 12-15 cm. long. Male spadix very
long, slender and lax, ultradecompound, 2-3 and more metres in length, strongly armed
in the very long axial portions between two partial inflorescenceii with scattered
or half-whorled, very acute, black-tipped claws, which rest on a light-coloured base;
primary spathes thinly coriaceous, tubular, closely sheathing, fugaciously furfuraceous,
thinly coriaceous; the lowest more or less flattened, two-edged, narrow, very lone,
entire and truncate at the mouth, the edges armed with short horizontal or deflexed
spines, the faces smooth, or prickly in vigorous specimens; upper primary spathes
excessively long, up to 60-70 cm., cylindraceous, truncate at the mouth where sometimes
split longitudinally, usually sparingly clawed in their upper part; partial inflorescences
few, very remote, very long (40-60 cm.), lax, slender, with a few simple
spikelets at their summit and a good many secondary branches near their base; those
8-10 and in vigorous specimens 15-20 cm. long, each branchlet with 4r-5
spikelets on eacli side; branches, branchlets and spikelets provided with a distinct
axillary callus and a transversal nma at their insertion; secondary spathes unarmed,
very narrowly tubular, slightly enlarged in their upper part, very narrow at the base,
where flat on the inner side, obliquely truncate at the mouth, slightly prolonged at one
side into a short triangular point, this keeled on the back; spikelets horizontal or
more or less deflexed, inserted just above the mouth of their own spathes, 1-3 cm.
long with 5-12 flowers on each side; spathels very short and closely packed,
furfuraceous, very broadly and shallowly infundibuliform, more or less distinctly
striately veined, embracing the involucre, with an erect subobtuse point on the outer
side; involucre cupular, rather deep, enclosed in the spathel, truncate and entire at
the margin, posticously flat and acutely two-kccIed. Male flowers distichous, approximate,
inserted at an angle of 45°, ovate, about 3 mm. long, rather blunt; the calyx
tubular, cylindraceous, strongly striately veined, teeth broad; the corolla polished
outside, one-third longer than the calyx. Female spadix usually simply decompound,
occasionally ultra-decompound, of very variable size, but always very long; in one
AKN. EOY. BOT. GABD. OAICUSIA TOL. X I.