154^ AN^AXS OF THE ROY^VL BOTANIC GARDEM, CALCUTTA. [Q, BORTERU
from iuside, are attached very near the mouth of their own spathe. No baf-sheath
flagella were present iu the specimens I have seen, but very probably the plant
is furuished with them in its upper part -whon not bearing spadices.
I n the specimens from the Cameroon River {Mann No. 2147) all the nerves ni
the uppsr surface of the leaves are smooth ; iu those from the Bagroo Kiver
(No. 891) the mid-costa is spinulous, and exceptionally a few spinules are to be
seen on the secondary nerves.
A male spadix from Cameroon is 1'35 m. long, and hears only one partial
iuflorescence issuing from the lowest spathe, the remaiaing portion forming the
flagellum. Another male spadix from Bagroo has three inflorescences. liather
frequently two flowers of equal size, and probably both fertile, come out from one
spathel ; when this is the case, each flower is sometimes furnished with its own
involucre, but more frequently there ia a normal cupular involucre accompanied
by a graallpr one at its side.
PLATE 19.—Calamus deerratus Mann ^ Wendl. Leaf-sheath with the base of a
leaf and a male spadix from a young plant; spadix with mature fruits; apex
of a leaf-sheath from a full-grown pkat (ia the upper right-hand corner),
All
the figures from Mann's specimens in the Herbai-ium at Kew.
Engl. Bot. Jahrb.
i, 199; Wright in
14. CALAMUS BAKTEKII Becc. in Herb. Kew.; Drude ia
xxi, 134 (partly^; Becc. iu Rec. Bot. Surv. Ind.
Fl. Trop. Afr. viii, 109 (partly).
DESCEIPTION.—Scandent, slender. Sheathed stetn as thick as a man's finger,
10-15 metres long ^Barter). Leaf-sheaths flagelliferous, thinly coriaceous, scaly
furfuraceous (fugaciously ?), longitudiually striated, unarmed, very slightly gibbous
above. Ocrea conspicuous, liguliform, 12-15 mm. long, shortly bilobed, split on the
outer side, where, as at the apex and in a lesser degree at the margins, bristlyspinulous.
Leaf-sheath flaqelh slender, filiform, terete, about 60 cm. long, armed
with, small solitary or sub-aggregate claws. Leaves not cirriferous, 45-50 cm. long;
petiole C-8 cm. in length, very obsoletely trigonous, channelled above, armed at
the margins with some patent, straight, relatively robust spines of variable length,
and beneath along the middle with solitary small claws, wldch appear at distant
intervals throughout the entire length of the rachis; rachis partially furfuraceous,
slender, trigonous, bifaced with acute and smooth angle above; leaflets few, 9-10
on each side, grouped in rather distant opposite fascicles of two to four on each
side, very spreading and sometimes nearly horizontal; sometimes single leaflets have
the 'corresponding one on the opposite side or remain solitary ; four slightly shorter
than the ' others are grouped at the apex, and the two of the terminal pair are
the base ; they are all linear-lancoolate, narrowed at the base
J acuminate into a long, filiform, bristly-ciliate tip, dull-green
•completely free
and very
(when dry)'above, slightly paler beneath, where somewhat rusty-furfuraceous near
their insertion, but otherwise glabrous, not or very sparingly sprinkled with brown
scaly dots thinly papyraceous and rather flaccid, subherbaceoue ; the mid-costa m
the upper'surface not very strong, acute and smooth; the side-nerves slender and
also smooth; on the under surface the mid-costa and one nerve on each side of it
C. Heudelotii] BECCARI. MONOGRAPH OF THE G-E>'TJS CALAMUS. 155
furnished with some very small spinules; transverse veinlets rather remote and much
interrupted; margins very closely spinulous with a slender nerve running along
them ; the largest leaflets, those near the base, 15-18 cm. long, by 10-13 mm.
in breadth. Other parts unknown.
HABITAT.—"West tropical Africa at Onitscha
Ko. 110 in Herb, Kow).
the River Niger {Barter
OBSI'^IVATIONS.—Of this species I have seen the upper portion of a sterile plant
with the sheathed stem 6 mm. iu diam. Amongst the Afj'icau Calami, this seems
well defined by the well-marked clustered arrangement of the leaflets. Judging
from the general structure of the leaf-sbeath flagella, which are morphologically
sterile spadices, we may suppose that tlio spadiceS in C. Barterii ought to be very
like those of C. deerratus, but this is a much larger plant with strongly armed
sheaths and numerous subequidistant leaflets. I have considered as a new species
(vide C. falahcnsia) the specimens described by Drude (1. c.) as the male
plant nf 0. Barceni. The canes are much employed in the lower part of the
Kiver Niger for tying. The fruit is said to be small and dark brown when ripe
(Barter).
PLATE 20.—Calamus Barterii Becc.
Herbarium at Kew.
The entire Barter's specimen No. 110 the
15. CAIAMUS HEUDELOTII Becc. in Herb. Kew.; Drude in Engl, Bot. Jahrb,.
xxi, (1896), pp. 112 and 134; Becc. in Roc. Bot. Surv. Ind. ii, 199
Wright in Fl. Trop. Afr. viii, 109.
DESCRIPTION.—Slender, not very high, scandent (2-3 m., Heudelot), Sheathed stem
about 1 em, in diam. Lcaf-shcaths flagelliferous, partially and fugaciously furfuraceous
greenish even when dry, longitudinally striate, slightly gibbous above, armed with
scattered, solitary, very small, horizontal, semiconicjal spines. Leaf-sheath flagella
filiform, slender, about 1 m. long, thcii- lowest spathe flattened, scantily aculeate
on the sharp edges; the succeeding spathes cylindraceous, more or less clawed;
the apical portion nearly terete, armed with 2-3-nate claws. Ocrea conspicuous,
externally produced into a ligule which is 2 cm. long, obliquely cut like the mouth
of a beaked flute, entire, with smooth margins and singularly ornamented externally
with closely seriated laminar, lacerated or comb-like, 4-5 mm. long spines. Leaves
(not seen entire) about 60-70 cm. long, not cirrifcrous; petiole short (7-8 cm.
long), flattish on its upper face, acute at the sides, where armed with some
straight horizontal spines which become hooked' upwards (as in the first portion
of the rachis), rounded on the lower face near the base, and armed there along
the middle with a few strong, rather long (10-12 mm.), solitary, straight, somewhat
deflexed, black-tipped spines, which rest on a large swollen base and gradually
decrease in length and are transformed into claws along the rachis ; the rachis
is flat and deeply channelled laterally (where are inserted the leaflets) in
its first portion, and upwards is bifaced with an acute naked angle above; leaflets
not very numerous, perhaps 18-20 on each side, very patent and sometimes
horizontal in fully developed leaves, more or less irregularly grouped in fascicles
ANN. BOT, BOT. GAED. CAICDITA VOL. X I ,