20fi âNNALS OP THK «OYAL BOTANIC GARDEN, CALCUTTA. r/J. /on^jispothus
D. longipes eeema to vary also a good deal in the dimensions of the fruit.
T h e largest aeeu by me are those of Ridley's specimen No. 6276, from Singapore,
which are 23 mai. long (including the beak and the perianth) and 15 mm. broad,
while in Riedel's specimen from Billiton the fruit is 18-20 mm. long (including
t h e beak and perianth), and 12 mm. broad; the seed is U-12'.5 mm. long and
9 - 9 ' 5 mm. broad and 8 mra. thick. The fruits from Sungei Liât in Hangks are also
8 mm. long and 12 mm. broad. The leaves vary in the degree of regularity of
a r r a n g e m e n t of the leaflets, aoraetimea these being almost equidistant throughout except
at the upper end.
Some fruits preserved in the Leiden Herbarium and said to have been collected
b y ,SieboId in Japan (probably in the Liu Kiu islands) Hre undistinguishable
f r om those of D. lo-ngipes, except that they are smaller, 19 ram. long (including beak
and p e r i a n t h ) and 10 mm. broad.
D. hngipes is eiisily distinguishable by its leaf sheaths armed with very
b r o a d l y laminar spines, which are particularly long around tiie mouth of the
l e a f - s h e a t h s ; by the hispid ocrea; by the leaves with more or less inequidiatant, but
not grouped, leaflets; by the entirely unarmed thin primary spathes; by the elliptical
f i u i t ; by the obconical pedicelliform f r u i t i n g p e r i a n t h ; by the male spikelata with
flatly bifarious ascendent flowers, and Anally by the male flowers which have a
n e c t a r i f o rm tubercle between the bases of the filaments.
PLATE 92.—Daemonorops longipes Mart. Intermediate portion of a loaf (upper
s u r f a c e ) ; lower portion of a female spadix in flower; an entire partial inflorescence
with not quite mature fruits (in the lower part of the plate): from
R i d l e y ' s No. -3496 in Herb. Beccari. The upper end of a spadix with quite
mature f r u i t s : from Ridley's No. 6276 in flerb. Beccari.
PLATE 93.—Daemonorops longipes Mart. The lower portion of a male spadix
i n flower with the lowest entire partial inflorescence : from a plant cultivated at
B u i t e n z o i g in Herb. Beccari. Male spadix ; intermediate portion of a leaf 'upper
s u r f a c e ) ; lower portion of a petiole (back view); from Kidley's No. 6392 in Herb.
Beccari.
82. DAEMONOKOPS LONGISPATHUS Becc. in Rec. Bot. Surv, Ind. 230.
DESCRIPTION.—A rather robust plant, apparently beginning to flower when a
y o u n g and erect plant, but later scandent. Sheathed stem 3-4 cm. in diameter. Leafsheaihs
not gibbous above, more or less covered, like all the other parts of the plant,
except the leaflets, with a rusty-brown adherent sciirf, and densely armed with
numerous unequal, but f r e q u e n t l y large spines, which are as much as n-6 cm. long
and 2—4 mm. broad at their bases, flat, elastic, very acuminate, ascendent or spreading,
s o l i t a r y , or at times more or less transversely seriate, very light-coloured, but
covered in the young shoots with small approximate patches of rusty scurf ; near
t h e mouth, on the ventral side, the spines are very crowded, and larger than in
D. longispathus] BECCAHI. THE SPECIES OP DAEMONOBOPS. 207
any other part, and as much as 10-18 cm. long. Ocrea very short, f u r f u r a c e o u s , devoid
of hairs or bristles. Leaves very large, 2-75 m. long (in one specimen) in the
pinniferous part, and terminating in a robust cirrus, 1 m. in length ; other leaves,
according to their position on the stem, are not or only r u d i m e n t a r i l y cirriferous ;
petiole very robust, elongate (75 cm. long in one specimen), 15-18 mm. broad at its
base, flattish, or «lightly convex on the upper surface where prickly only near the
margins, convex on the back, the margins not very acute, strongly armed at the
base with long irregular, spreading spines, which become shorter, more r o b u s t , often
i^eminate or digLtate-ternate and divergent higher up; on the lower surface, along
tti© centre of the dorsum, the spines of the petiole are at first solitary or digitatet
e r n a t e and doflexed, but straight, and then are transformed |into claws on the
r a c h i s ; on the upper surface tha rachis is smooth throughout, at first is broadly
grooved at the sides where the leaflets are inserced and has a salient angle in the
centre, obtuse at iirst, then very acute, with flat side-faces; on the lower surface
t h e claws are at iirst 3-nate and tiieii .5-7-nato and half or three quarters
whorled in the cii'rus: they are exceptionally strong, and have a reversed but
r a t u e r straight point. Leaflets numorous, equidistant, 3 - t , and in very vigorous
specimens 5-7 cm. a p a r t ; they are firmly papyraceous, almost glossy, and concolorous
on both surfaces, elongate-lanceolate or ensiform, broadest about or a little
below the middle and thence tapering towards the base and acuminate to a subulate
and sometimes more or less caudiculate and bristly, spinulous t i p ; on the upper
surface the mid-costa is slender, very sharp, smooth or very sparingly spinulous
f r om the middle upwards and has several unequal smooth secondary nerves on
each side of it, but none of these is considerably stronger than the oth ers. On
t h e under surface all nerves are slender and smooth; transverse veinlets numerous,
sinuous and interrupted, rather sharp on both surfaces; margins acute, remotely,
minutely, and appresaedly spinulous; the largest and intermediate leaflets are 35-45
cm. long, and 3-4 em. broad, the lowest are narrower, and the uppermost smaller
and have longer filiform tips than the others. Male spadix large, e l o n g a t e ; one
specimen ha.s 15 or 16 partial inflorescences which form on the whole a large,
cupressiform very acuminate panicle, 2'1 ra. in length; the main axis is straight,
v e r y slender at the upper e n d ; the internodes are 12-15 cm. long, angular, rot swollen
at the junctures; upper internodes strongly flatteae i ; primary spathes d e c i d u o u s , very
t h i n l y coriaceous, or thickly papyraceous, narrowly or elongate-lanceolate, reddish
brown, glabrous, finely longitudinallv striate and darker i n t e r n a l l y : e x t e r n a l l y covered
with a very adherent, thin, irregular, more or less confluent, seal}', r u s t y - f u r f uraceous
i n d u m e n t u m ; the outermost spathe is 45 cm. long (in one specimen), and is 5 cm.
broad, spreads out almost flat during the anthesis, very acutely two-keeled ; the keels
armed with small, short, ascendent spines; inner spathes unarmed, each g r a d u a l ly
p r o t r u d i n g beyond the other, very acuminate; partial inflorescences varying a good
deal in size; the lowest form a rather dense, ovate, acute, spreadmg panicle up to
40 cm. long and 20-25 cm. broad, with 4-5 distichous branchlets on each side
besides several simple spikelets in the terminal p a r t ; the following inflorescences are
gradually smaller; and the uppermost consist of a few .simple spikelots; the branchlets
follow the same rule, the lowest being the largest, and the following becoming
gradniilly smaller, and with fewer spikolets; the lowermost branchlet of each
inflorescence is 15-20 cm. long, and has 6 - 8 spikelets on each side; the axis of