miEODOCTION.
F J J . — T f t e Flower.
neuter WheOBVei the aveoh or simply a small cicatrix exists at the
side of the involucre ot the female spikelets, there also the neuter flower will be
found (PI. I I , f. 8, S); but this latter being very fugacious, and detaching itself
very easily, is very frequently absent from herbarium specimens.
I n some cases the neuter fiower, which is usually somewhat more slender than
a female flower, from which it otherwise diflers but slightly (PL I I , f. 8, i), assumes
considerable dimensions; thus in D. thmphjUtu it measures 4—5 mm. in length, 0
mm. in D. Pierreantis, 6—7 mm. in B. fiiim. I have never found expanded neuter
flowers, which, it seems, do sometimes occur in the Calami. Yet it is not impossible
that in certain cases the neuter flowers do expand, and may even have nectariferous
organs within them. In D. KttMtlerii neuter flowers appear to he wanting, for the
areola upon which such a flower should stand cannot be discovered.
Male yfowere.—The male flowers of Dmmmropi do not difler essentially from
those of the Calami; they are always greatly elongated, have the calyx superScially
3-dentate, and the corolla twice or thrice the length of the calyx (PL II, f- 2, 4, 5).
I n two instances, in I>. verticUlarls and D. hngipas, 1 have n n t i c a l nectariforni bodies
at the bases of the filaments of every stamen (PL It, f. 7).
Female flowers.—fkn female flowers of a Daemononpi are easily distinguished
from those of a Calamus, for the former have an almost truncated calyx, superficially
3.deutate (then split into 3 pieces), and the corolla considerably longer than the
c a l y x (PI. I, f. l - t ; PL H. i- 8, a and 9, 10); whereas in Calamus the calyx
i s deeply tri-lobed or trifid, and the corolla is about the same length as the calyx.
T h e female flowers of Dasmonmps, like those of the Calami, have 6 sterile stamens,
formine, with the bases of their filaments, which are joined together, a sort
of mernbrauous cup or cupula around the ovary, crowned by 6 points, each of which
carries an abortive anther (PL I, f. 4). In D. scapigerus the staminal cupula, as the
ovary develops, becomes detached from the thorum, but persists around the summit
of the -style on the top of the fruits, like a cylindrical hat.
T h e ovary of the female flower of Dasmomrops in no wise difliers from that
of the Calami. In D. Jenkinsimm, where I have been able to study it preserved
in alcohol, I have found it distinctly three-celled, these cells being throughout of
equal size, while each is furnished with an ovule, to all appearance equally
well shaped; soon, however, one of the ovules rapidly surpasses in development
the other two, which become abortive (PL I, f. 5 ) ; however, cases in which two
ovules are both transformed into seeds are, as in Calamus, by no means uncommon.
The ovules are set in the inner angle of the base of the cells ; they are
anatrepons with the mieropyle turned outwards, situated near the base, while the
funiculus is very sboi-t.
riIJ.~The Fruit-
Tie fruit of Ba.monorofS is extremely similar to that of several kinds of
Calamus, but the seed has always a ruminate albumen, and a basal embryo All
t h e fruits of Da«mn,r«rs are constructed alike. I shall therefore describe _ o n l y the
frnit I have myself examined, namely, that ot D. JmUnsianus preserved m alcohol
and received from Sikkim, through the kindness of Major Sage, 8npenl,tendent of
t h e Botanical Garden of Calcutta (PI. I, f. 9, 10). The pericarp of D. /»tarn»..,
l i k e that of all the Daemonorops, is very thin ; its most noticeable part is the epicarp,
which, as in Calamus, i. formed by the well-known imbricating scales, which
constitute an effective protection for the seed. The mesocarp and the endocarp are
scarcely to be distinguished from each other, but together they form a parenehymatic
tissue barely 0-3 mm. in thickness, which consists of a few layers of very
l a r g e and very thick-walled cells, traversed lengthwise by fibre-vascular bundles,
amounting altogether, between small and great, to about forty i n number.
T h e r e exists, moreover, an internal and very thin epiderm. On the removal of
t h e seed several fibro-vascular bundles are readily detected within the concavity
of the pericarp, for they stand out clearly like slender ribbons upon the suiTOunding
tissue; they start from the base of the fruit at the point which corresponds
to the apex of the perianth, and are reunited at the apex of the pericarpal cavity
after having very slightly anastomosed with each other. The pericarpal cavity in
the fruits preserved in alcohol is shiny, and is lined with a layer of a darkcoloured
coagulated and gelatinous substance which presents no trace whatever of
cellular structure. This layer of amorphous gelatinous substance between the walls
of the pericarp and the seed forms a coating around the latter, which entirely
enfolds it, and is extremely thin in certain parts, while in others it attains 0-5^ to
0*6 mm. in thickness. This gelatinous substance, which gives a tannic reaction,
appears to have accumulated in the interstices between the cells of the ovary by
transudation from the canals interposed between the base of the ovule and the
rings of the axial part that carries the fruit.
The seed has an integument of its own. This integument is fleshy and
smooth externally ; its thickness varies from 0-7—2 mm., being in most cases rather
thicker on the side of the raphe than elsewhere. It is derived from the external wall
of the ovule, and is formed of a parenchymatous tissue, soft and composed of rather
large elements, elliptical in shape, and with their greater diameter transverse to the
fruit and having thin walls. In a tissue composed of such cells, lysigeuic cavities or
sacs form, either spherical or elHptical in section, and filled with a mucilaginous
substance which itself appears to he saturated with a tannic fluid. They are therefore
tanniferous cavities of most variable dimensions, some indeed being very large.
Those sacs which lie nearest to the periphery show through the excessively thin
cellular exterior layer of the integument as dark dots (at least in the fruits preserved
in alcohol); they are scattered here and there over its surface, and are plainly
visible to the naked eye. Between the tissue enclosing the tanniferous cavities and
the endosperm lies a tissue void of such cavities and formed of a few layers of cells
which are also parenchymatic and thin-walled, and the longest diameter c^ which is normal