INTEODUCTION.
. A ™ though much used in their native home. Yet species ot
I iTt w n t i t i o H -pply canes not to be distinguished f ™ . the finest ,nahty
Zt CaZL c.n produce, and like these a « objects of e.povtatton; of snch are sa.d
to be D. Jmtimmma, from the north-east of India.
The bnd shoots of D. foMku, ("Rattan Manis » = " sweet Hallan») ax;e eatable
a , are those of many other palms; bnt in most Dmmmnt^ that part is bit er, as it
" in c l l . The^ involno» of the seed is pulpy, acidulate or sweet.A, and
Í m p í r a t e d mth tannin, can be used, before reaching complete niatarily, as a
substitute for the Areca nut.
But the most important produce of the fl»»»»™?» is Dragon's Blood, called by
the Malays " Djernang," which! is furnished in abundance, and of the best quality
by / t L , Z) Dral«ellu. and D. perhaps also by B. „ . » • » « » , and
n ouantity by D Motbyi; a slight secretion ot this drug also takes place
L m th n t f l l ^ ^ a n d ' . . It would appear that
oi the Andaman group, and D. of Sumatra, also furnish " Djernaog
in small quantities.
XIII.—Geographical Distribution.
The genus D,«n«orops has a geographical distribution much more restricted than
that of the genus CalLs, but like the latter is represented by species that
S the great majority of instances haye a very restricted geographical area, and
f,.eou6ntly mingled with Oahm»,. under identical physical condilions,
fn'The gTeat S : of the regions of the Monsoon, in Southern Asia, in the
Malayan Archipelago and in the Philippines.
The geographical area of Damomrof, is comprised between Lat. 10° S. and
25- N Td between Long. 85= and U." K Graphically, the area occupied
. „H he fairly well shown on a map by a large ellipse, the
maes, stretching from the north-west to the
long aiis jj^ axis, about
i n ' ^ t n X stretching north-east and soutb-„e.t, would touch the
extreme northern point of Borneo.
Not only therefore are no D a ^ n o r o f , to be found in Afi-ica, hut oven in
India t l r a r e not met with west of Bengal; hence no representatives of this genus
a L f o u n d ' i ^ Western India, in the centre and south ot the Indian Peninsula, nor
in Ceylon.
The extreme eastern limit ot Daemonorcf, is attained in the Am Islands, where
a form very closely related to the Javanese O. mlanooMeU. grows, which may be
L s i l d as the ultimate extension of that species eastwards, since the
Z t Z L really appears to be wanting throughout New Guinea. The most
r secies of l}aL„oro« is D. JmUnrianm, at least we may so regard ,t,
tte : " p e ' i e s reued to A couected by vonSicbold
GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. 13
(Leiden Herbarium) in the Liu-kiu Islands, belonging to Japan, has been positively,
proved D. Jenkimimm is also possibly the most western species, though to this
species must be added D. iManii and D. Kwimnm ;a form related to D. Jenkinianm)
of the Andaman Group. No representative of the genus Daemomrops is as yet known
to exist in ,he Nicobat Islands, though it is not at all improbable that it may
exist there. DaemonorofS is therefore a genus essentially ot the Indo-Malayan Region
of Malaysia proper, and of the tropical Asiatic Archipelagos. Of the 83 species of
Vxmnm-Ofi: known at the present day, quite 30 inhabit the Malayan Peninsula and
the small islands on its coasts, 26 are found in Borneo, and 15 in Sumatra. Next
comes Celebes with 5 species; Java, the Moluccas, and the Philippines have 3
each, while the Andamans have two.
Northern India, Siam, Cochin-China, China and the Aru Group have each
a single species. But this enumeration will be very soon altered, as most certainly
a large numbet of new species of Daaxmrop, still remain to be discovered
in the not yet bolanically explored parts of Borneo, Sumatra and Celebess
and in the Philippine and Sulu Archipelagos. Ot the 80 species which mhabit
the Malay Peninsula and its islands, 24 may be regarded as endemic, as tar as
we know at preiiont, 4 (O. propinmi, D. veHiciUarb, D. ¡mtculaim and D.
longipa) are thought not to be such, only, however, because they also grow
across the Straits, in the part ot Sumatra nearest to the Peninsula. Only one,
D. fcria^antu,, grows in Singapore, and on the neighbouring Continent ; on the
other hand, it is found unchanged in Borneo, Suniatta and Bangka. Ot all the
Daemomrop, of the Malay Peninsula, this species possesses the widest geographical
range. Of the 30 species proper to the Hera of the Peninsula, D. ehngatas and
D, Lewidmus are found only in Penang, yet it may be taken for granted that future
researches will lend to modify the delimitation of the areas of several species, tor it
is probable that others besides those mentioned, till now believed to be peculiar to
the Malayan Peninsula, may be discovered in Sumatra and Borneo.
As with respect to other groups of plants, so also with Daim,mrop>, it has
been observed that, notwithstanding the great athnity existing between the flora ot
the Malayan Peninsula and that ot Borneo, the species, or nearly all the species, of
Daermmrops growing in one of these regions difler from those growing in the other,
though related among themselves; thus to D. Draco, D. popwqum and D.
«!fo-»»»ifas-Peninsular species, correspond in Borneo D. mi Dmooncelb, D. maiianem,,;
to the Malayan D. Bfalnx correspond D. onyearp«^ and D. Eorthalm; while
to the Peninsular species with leaf-sheaths furnished with rings forming ant-harbourmg
galleries, such as 0. SM, D. oligophjU«^. and D. iMc^piy««», Borneo opposes
the related species D. mnuUim, D. cM«,rif,ru, and D. minUh,. A noteworthy tact
is this, tliat about half of the 30 O«»»»»™?! of the Malayan Peninsula belong to
the eymlopatha section, and are indigenous. No doubt the centre of formation ot
C,mlo>patlm is in the Peninsula ot Malacca, but the original parent plant may have
been D. Jenti»d„„m, which from Sikkim worked its way through Assam and
Burma in the shape of a peculiar form down into Tenassenm (var. Um,ienmtcm)
and there, at tlie extreme point ot the Malayan Peninsula, generated many other
forms. From D. Jettkimims, on the one side, the forms found in Siam {D. Schmidiimm),
in Cochin China [D. Piirremm), in China (D. Margaritae), would appear to