1 9 4 ASNALS OP THE KOY^L BOTANIC GIEDEN, CALCUITA. ¡^0. AOANTHÙBOLUSt
h e largest, 16-18 cm. long, erecto pa'-ent, kept spreading by a ratber distinct
axUlary callus, havfi a short (10-15 mm. long) plano-convos ' pedicellar part, and
5 - 6 distichous spikolots oa each side ; secondary spathes thinly membranous, brittle,
essuccous or scarious, embracing, broadly triangular, acuminate ; spikelots erectop
a t e n t , the lower 7-8 cm. long, with 5-6 bifarious ilowevs on each side ;
t h e upper somewhat sliorter and with fewer flowers ; their axis flexuoas, and
more or less covered witli a r u s t y scurf detaching iu flakes ; t h e joints between two
flowers curved; spathels very thinly membranous, reddish, b r i t t l e , shortly annular,
a n d loosely embracmg, produced at one side into a very bmad triangular and acute
p o i n t ; iuvolucrophorum obconical, usually distinctly p-idicellifDrni in the basal part
of the spikelcts, and almost sessile at the upper end ; the limb membranous
s u b - i n f u n d i b u l a r , and, at one side, slightly produced; involucre irregularly
cupular, more or less unilaterally evolute ; areola of the neuter flower concave,
niche-like, sharply bordered, oblong or sub orbicular, the sear not swollen. Female
flowers narrowly ovoid, 5 mm. long ; the calyx campanulate, obsoletely 3-toothed,
but soon irregularly split, with a callous base; the corolla not quite twice as long
as the calyx, and like it not distinctly veined externally ; staminal urceolum conical
and free in its upper part where crowned with 6 triangular teeth ; tiie
upper part frequently carried up with the growing ovaries to form a muS-like
s h e a t h to the beak of tlie young truit Fruiting perianth almost explanate. Fruit
spherical, 16-17 mm. in diameter, sometimes very slightiy depressed on the top,,
s h o r t l y and abruptly beaked; scales in li longitudinal aeries, grooved along the
centre, dull, of a d i r t y - s t r aw colour, at times tinged with red but not resiniferous,
w i t h a darker, very obtuse point, and the margins very minutely, but distinctly,
erosely-toothed. Seed globular, 10 mm. in diameter, finely tuberoled and pitted, its
r a p h a l side slightly ventricose ; chalazal fovea indistinct, punctiform ; embryo basal.
HABITAT.—N.E. iiorneo, in Sarawak near Kuching (Becaari P. H. No. 22) smd
a t Mattang (Hewiii in Herb, Kew.—male p l a n t ) ; a specimen of the male plant was
also collected in the wst forests of Borneo by LoU (Herb. l£ew. without a special
locality). S.E. Sumatra at Muara Enim in the interior of the liesidency of
P a l e m h a n g {Teijsmam No. 3581 in Herb. Hort. bot. Bog. of Calcutta'. Vernacular
name in Palembang dialect " Houe kouro riic (Teysmann)."
OBSERVATIONS.—D. acanthoholus is related to D. geniculates and especially fo D
scafigerus-, the armament of the leaf-sheaths of both is very similar; but the branchi
n g of the female flowering panicle is widely different, being contracted and with
f ew branches in D. scapigerus, and elongate, much branched, ovoid-cupressiform, and
acuminate in D. aeanthoholus. In Lobb's specimen the leaves are said to be 8-9 feet
i n l e n g t h ; they t e r m i n a t e in a very slender rudimentary cirrus.
I n Hewitt's male specimen the spadix is smaller than in that of L o b b ; the
. 33 cm. loD^, supported by as long a peduncular part; the partial infloresceuces
are 6-7 in number and the largest are only 4-5 cm. lon|?; no differences
i n the flowers; the outermost spatlie has tufts of bristles only on the keels.
D. scapigerus.'] J3ECCAIU. T H E SPECIES OF DAEMONOEOPS. 195
T h i s is certainly the Daemnnorofs reduced by Miquel iProdr, Fl. Sum. 1. c.)
to D. acccdcns of which he also writes in the Journ. de Bot, N^erl. 21, for I
have seen the specimens examined by Miquel.
PLATE 85.— Daemonorops acanthoholus BeiC. The base of the petiole (front
view); upper portion of a leaf-sheath and base of the petiole with a spadix in
situ bearing young f r u i t s ; an intermediate portion of a leaf (under surface). From
t h e type-specimen P. B. No. '¿2 in Herb. Beccari.
PLATE 86.—Daemon orops acanthoholus Beac. Male spadix in flower; lower
p o r t i o n of a petiole. From Lobb's specimen in the Kew Herbarium.
78. DAEMONOROPS SCAPIGERUS Becc. in Rec. Bot. Surv. Ind. ii,
DESCRIPTION.—Not scandent. Stem erect, short. Leaf-sheaths 20-22 mm. in diameter,
r u s t y furfuracGous, not gibbous above, voxy obliquely truncate fit the mouth, armed
and ornamented, particularly on the upper part of the dorsum, with a few subparallel,
oblique, semi-circular or almost complete, spiniferous, deflexed crests or rows of small,
iiattened, usually spiculiform spines, which are united by their bases into narrow
membranous lings. Leaves elongate, O'8-l m. long in the pinniferous part, terminating
i n a slender, often short, and r u d i m e n t a r y cirrus; petiole at first fugaciously fui-furaecus,
later ahnost polished, elongate, 36-40 cm. long. 6 - 8 mm. broad, broadly grooved
at the base, then for a short distance plano-convex, and from tlie middle upwards
flattened-bicouvex, smouth on both surfaces; the margins rather obtuse, strongly
spinous; the spines light-coloired, those nearer to the base very long (up
to 8 - 1 1 cm.), erect and spreading, gradually shorter higher up, f r e q u e n t l y geminate
and at times ternate, one longer than the others and divaricate; rachis armed on
t h e under surface with at first solitary and higher up ternate, rather small claws;
ou the upper surface it lias a salient, smooth angle, obtuse at first, very acute f r om
t h e middle upwards ; leaflets rather numerous, equidistant, 3-6 cm. apart, except those
i u the terminal part where the intervals are longer and somewhat unequal;
r a t h e r firmly papyraceous, green, paler beneath, narrowly lanceolate or ensiform,
broadest about or a little below the middle and thence tapering to a rather acute
base and gradually acuminate to a finely subulate bristly tip, plicate ou the upper
s u r f a c e ; the mid-co^ta is very slender, acute and very sparingly apinuliferous only
near the a p e x ; the secondary nerves unequal, quite smooth, one on each side of
t h e mid-costa very slightly stronger than the others, but not enough to
r e n d e r the upper surface distinctly 3-costulate; ou the under surface the mid-costa
alone minutely and remotely spinulous; transverse veinlets excessively numerous,
approximate and short, so as to render both surfaces when seen under a lens
finely shagreened; margins smooth or very remotely minutely appressedly spinulous
towards the apex; the largest leaflets are those a l i t t l e above the base, 35-40 cm.
long, 22-25 mm. broad; the upper ones somewhat shorter but not narrower. Male
spadiz . . . Fevxale spadix has a very short, slightly btanclied and rather dense
panicle, borne on a very long peduncular part; primary spathes membranous,
exsuccous, splitting longitudinally, concave-cymbiform, lanceolate, acute, deciduous
ANN. EOY. Bor, GAKI,., CAI-CUITA, VOL. X l l.