m
1 3 4 ANNALS OP THE RORAL BOTANIC G-:\:RDEK, C.\ICITTTA. [(?. LONGISETUS
sid« into a very short point; iuvolucre half-exserted friiiu its own spathel and laterally
attached to the base o£ the one above, two-keeled and deeply emavginate on tlie
side next to the axis, otherwise entire and obliquely truncate. Male Jlozvers
perfectly bifarious, very regularly alternate and 5 - 6 mm. apart, obtusely trigonous,
8 - 1 0 mm, long, 3 mm. thick, occasionally slightly curved, narrowly oblong, gradually
attenuated from the middle upwards into an almost acute point; calyx siriately nervose,
subcam panul ate, divided down about to the middle into 'Ó large triangular almost acute
l o b e s ; corolla twice as long as the calyx or nearly so, divided down nearly to
the base into 3 elliptic-lanceolate segments ; stamens with filaments complanate in
their lower part, subulate upward, not inflected at the apes; anthers narrowly subsagittate,
with cells deeply discrete at tho base ; rudimentary ovary columnar, a
l i t t l e shorter than the filaments, divided into three subulate bodies. Other parts
unknown.
HABITAT.—Discovered by M. L, Pierre in March 1877 in the northern part of the
River Dongnai at Chiao-xhan in Lower Cochin-Ohina (Herb. Pierre No. 4829). The
fruit is eaten by the natives (Pierre).
OBSERVATIONS.—I have seen only a male spadix and some portions of leaves of this
very fine species which is closely related to C. arlorescens Grifi., from -which it differs
in the leaflets being of the same green colour on both surfaces and not white underneath
and in the Haib of the secondary spaLhes being greenish and when withered
and decayed not nearly black. The spikelets and the flowers are very much the same
as those of C. erecius, but from this C. dongnaiensis differs in its inflated spathes.
C. hngisehis is also another allied species, but this is climbing and is powerfully clawed
i n the attenuated axial portions of the spadix. while C. dongnaiensis bears only straight
spines throughout.
PLATE 8.—Calamus dongnaiensis Pierre. Apex of a leaf and leaflets of an
intermediate portion of leaf; basal portion of a male spadix with an entire partial
inflorescence and the terminal portion of the same spadix. From the authentic
specimen of Pierre in Herb. Becc.
5. CALAMUS LOSGISLTDS Griff, in Calc. Jouru. Nat. Hist, v, 36, and Palms
Brit. Ind. 44, t. clxxxix. A.B.; Mart. Hist. Nat. Palm, iii, 333; Walp.
Ann. iii, 483, and v, 830; Miq. Fl. Ind. Bat. iii, 114; Hook. f. Fl.
Brit. Ind. vi, 440; Becc. in Rec. Bot. Surv. Ind. ii, 199,
C. iigrims Kutz in Journ. As. Soc. Bengal, xliii, pt. 2 (1874), 211, t.
XXV and xxvi and For. Fl. Biit. Burma ii, 519.
DESCRIPTION.—Large and scan d e n t ; tcnsJieathed stem 2-Ñ-3 cm. in diam. Leaf-sheaths
(probably ilagelliferous) fearfully armed with whorls and half-whorls of broad, flat, sharp,
glossy, fuscous or black spines (about 3 cm. long), intermingled with shorter or
thinner ones (Knrz). Leaves very large ( 3 - 4 m., Griffith}, not ciniferous; petiole long,
2 - 2 ' 5 cm. thick, deeply channelled above, round and armed beneath with spines
similar to those of the sheaths and of various sizes (some of them 4 cm. long) scat
tered or variously aggregated in more or less complete comb-like whorls; racliis of the
G, longisetus] BECCARI. MONOGEAPH OF THE GENUS CAJ-.^UIDS. 1 3 5
middle and anterior portion subtrigonous, bifaced and not very acute abovo, rounded
and armed along the middle below with solitary, strong, short, black, deflexed spines;
leaflets inequidistant or approximate in not' distant groups of 2 - 3 in the lower portion
of the rachis, subequidistant towards the summit, green and shining on both surfaces,
f a i n t l y paler beneath, erisiform, subulately acuminate; mid-costa acute and remotely
spinulous towards the apex above, furnished below with some very long (sometimes
even 3 cm.) blackish bristles; secondary nerves not strong but distinct, of these one
on each side of the mid-costa occasionally bristly above, all naked beneath; margins
ciliate, mainly near tho apex, with short, black, somewhat approximate, spiny bristles;
ti-ansverse veinlets fine, very distinct and much interrupted; the largest leaflets 60-65
cm. long, 3 - 4 cm. broad, the two of the apical pair shorter than the others and confluent
at the base. Male fpadiz very long, flagolliferous, simply decompound, with few,
elongate, (40-60 cm. long), partial inflorescences ending in a short, flattened, unarmed,
caudiform appendix and bearing 5 - 6 distichous, remote, erect spikelets on each side; the
elongated part of the axis between two inflorescences and the apical, very long and
stout flagellum are armed with rather approximate half-whorls of black-tipped claws
w i t h swollen and confluent bases; primary spathes elongate-tubular, rather loosely
sheathing, with lacerated decayed limb, ai-med with short strong claws, often confluent,
mainly near the base; secondary spathes unarmed, shortly tubular at tho base, and
with a somewhat inflated lanceolate limb, at first truncate acuminate at one side, but
later decayed and lacerated in the upper portion, the basal still living portion being
sharply defined from the dead one by a distinct dark transverse line ; spikelets inserted
inside their own spathe but not pedicellate, very large, flattened, 10-12 cm. long, and
3 cm. broad, when covered with fully developed flowers, which number 2 0 - 2 3 oii each
side and are very regularly distichously and closely set ; spathels fugaciously fuifuraceous,
closely packed, short, asymmetrically and broadly infundibuliiorm, truncate,
apiculate at one side and split under the flower; involucre nearly entirely enclosed
in its own spathel, and laterally attached to the base of tho one above, dimidiately
cupular or Ukc a swallow's nest, obliquely truncate and entire on the front side, deeply
emarginate and two-toothod posticously next to the axis. Male flowers amongst the
largest in the genus, 8-11 mm. long, 3 - 4 mm, thick, oblong, obtusely trigonous, sometimes
slightly curved, somewhat attenuated at the apex; calyx thinly pergamentaceous,
finely sti-iatcly nerved, with 3 short, broad, triangular, v e i y acute or apiculate lobes;
corolla more than twice or nearly three times as long as the calyx, shortly tubular
at the base, with oblong or elliptic segments; filaments of tho stamens stout, not much
shorter than the segments, inflected at the apes, united at tho base with the undivided
part of the corolla; anthers large, broadly linear, acute, the cells shortly discrete and
obtuse at the base, rudimentary ovary small, formed by three very minute subulate
bodies. Female spadix simply decompound; primary and secondary spathes as in the
male spadix; spikelets flcxuosc, 10-16 cm. long, thicker and larger than the male
ones; spathels ultimately lacerated and decayed at the apex; involucrophorum unilaterally
infundibulifomi, not exceeding its own spathes and attached to the base of
the one above, deeply emarghiate, two-toothed and acutely two-keeled posticously next
to t!ie axis; involucre cupular, nearly entirely exserted from the involucrophorum,
truncate, emarginate and toothed on the side of the neuter flower, of which the
areola is rather deep, lunate, but often somewhat vertically evolute, and sharpjy
defined. Female flowers large, about 1 cm. long. Fruiting perianth explanate under the