5 8 A^TNALS OP THE EOTAL BOTANIC GABDEN. CALCUTTA. grandlS-
9. OAEMONOROP.I GKAHDIS Mart. Hist. Nat. Paira. iii, 327, pi. 175, f. ix and
pi. Zxii, f. 11 (diagr.); Miq. Fl. Ind. Bat. Hi, 88; TeijsQi. et Biuu.
Cat. Hort. Bot, Bogor. 74; Walp. Ann. iii, 476 and v, 827; Hook. f.
Fl. Brit. Ind. vi, 463 ; Becc. in Rec. Bot. Surv. Iiid. ii, 219.
Calamus ¡^randis Grifi. in Calc. Journ. Nat. Hist, v, 84, and Palms Brit.
India, 91, pi. OCX A i^and also B and C ?) and pi. CCX71, f. iii ;
H. Wendl. iu Kerch. Palm. 236 ; Miq. Do Palm. Arc. Ind. 28.
DESCRIPTION,—Robust and scandent. Sheathed stem 3-4 cm. in diiimter. Lea/sheaths
strongly gibbous above, covered with a dark, crustaceous, remoTuble tomentum, rather
densely armed witli unequal, moro or less obliquely and interruptedly seriate, uonconau3ut,
laminar, brown or blackish, broad-bused spines, of which some are very
short and others 2-3 cm. long and flexible, horizontal or slightly deflexed ; those
near the mouth ascendent. Ocrea very short. Leaves (of the upper part of ihe plant)
very large, in one specimen 2'5 m. in the pinniferous pai-t (including the petiole)
and prolonged into u long, robust and very strongly clawed cirius ; petiole 30 40
cm. long (3 feet, Gri^th}, flattish or slightly convex above, where armed at the
sides with short prickles, it.s margins acute and also armerl with short prickles of
which some point upwards and others more robust are horizontal ; underneath the
petiole is rounded and spar.9ely armed along the centre with short spinea, which become
closer and are gradually transformed into solitary claws upwards; rachis flattish ou
tlie upper surface in the first portion, and with a veiy obtuse carina along the centre
and sparsely prickly at the margins : only towards t h e apex it is trigonous, the carina
being transformed into a salient angle with two side-faces; on the lower surface the
claws, which are solitary at first, become 3-nate and at the apex form half-whorls
of 6-8. Leajlets numerouH (36 pairs in one specimen), equidistant, alternate or
suboi)p08ite, rather thickly papyraceous, pale or almost glaucertcent beneath, ensiform,
somewhat narrowed and suddenly backwardly plicate at the base, gradually
acuminate from not very far above the base to a slender, not bristly tip ; upper
surface with the mid-costa acute and conspicuously raised, the secondary nerves namernus
and slender, and all quite naked ; underneath the mid-costa is slender and smooth or
slightly spinulous from the middle upwards; the other nerves are all naked; margins
smooth or sparingly, minutely and appvessedly »pinulous near the apex; tlie largest
leaflets 40-50 cm. long, and 3 em. broad; the upper leaflets shorter and a few at
the base of the cirrus quite rudimentary, Male apadix . . . . Female spadix
attached eccentrically about io cm. below the mouth of its sheath on the ventral
side, but apparently emerging from the axil of ths loaves ; before flowering it is
fusiform, 35-60 cm. long (including the beak), erect, with a very short prickly
peduncle; outer spathe elongate-cymbiform, gradually narrowing into a long beak»
ratlier acutely dorsally two-keeled, more or less densely armed with laminar,
subulate, very sharp, elastic, blackish spines, which are solitary or confluent
iu small series of 2-5, point upwards and have a broad callous base with
a narrow furrow above it; the beak itself is about as long as the body,
spinous only at its base; second spathe (not seen by me) with a few spines
near its apex, tlie others usually unarmed and more or less rusty-furfnraceous.
D. grandis.'} BECCA:RI. THE SPECIES OF DAEMONOBOPS. GG
externally {Griffith); flowering axis rigid, densely cupresaiform, its internodes short,
thick, swollen from the middle down to the base, with few (4-5) principal
branches (partial inflorescences) and with a rigid, robust, slightly flexuoua axis;
the intermediate branches, which are the largest, are 10-12 cm. long, with 4-5
distichous spjkelets on each side; the pedicellar part or first internode of the main
axis is short and thick, about 1 cm. in length; secondary spathes scale-like, devoid
of an elongate sheatliing part, but completely amplectent, membranous, exauccous,
extended at one side into a broad triangular, acute or shortly acuminate point;
spikelets rigid, erecto-patent, slightly flexuous with a conspicuous axillary callus
•and transverse' rima at their insertion; the lower spikelets, the largest, 6-T cm.
long with 5-6 distichous flowers on each side; the others gradually shorter and
with fewer flowers; spathels similar to the secondary spathes but smaller; inrolucrophorum
short and thick or almost depressed, 2-3 mm. long with a very conspicuous
axillary callus and transverse rima at its axilla, terminating in a very
shallow, entire, asymmetric limb; involucre very shallowly cupular or pateriform,
smooth, polished inside, entire or occasionally split by the distension of the fruiting
perianth; areola of the neuter flower very conspicuous, almost circular, vrith a
raised and strongly tumescent border. Fndiinrj perianth with a flat base, its calyx
striately veined externally, split down quite to the base into 3 pai-ts; the
corolla not quite twice as long as the calyx, its segments ovate-lanceolate, striate
externally. Fruit spherical, very shortly unibonate, 18—19 mm. in diameter; scales
in 15 longitudinal scries, the intermediate ones broader than long (8 mm. broad,
6 mm. long) yellowish-brown, with a very narrow darker intramarginal lino and a
narrow, light, erosely denticulate margin, rather deeply channelled along the centre,
and slightly prolonged into an obtuse dark pohit. Seed irregularly globular, slightly
deficient or with a flattish surface on one side at its upper p a r t ; albumen deeply
ruminate; embryo basal.
HABITAT.--The Malayan Peninsula: at Malacca {Griffith), found again by Scoriechtni
at Perak (Herb. Beccari.). C. ¡jrandis of Kurz (Jom-n. As. Soc. Beng
xliii, 2, 1874, 308) from Rutland Island in the Andamans is my U.
Kursianus. Miquel (De Palmis, p. 28) mentions also Sumatra and Borneo as localities
of D. grandis, but I do not know on what ground. Griffith assigns with doubt
to D. grandia the Malayan names of " Rotang Sumanbo" or of " Rotang Chry,"
but the first is usually applied to large species which produce strong, robust
canes, fit for stocks of walking canes, and specially to Calamus Seipionum.
OBSERVATIONS.—(Jf D. grandis I have seen some fragments of Griffith's type-
•specitnen in the Herbarium at Kew, consisting of a few leaflets, portions of
the lenf-sheathM, and a very young spadix; but 1 received from Father
Scortechini a leafy specimen accompanied by a fruit spadix, parts that exactly
agree with the corresponding ones of Griffith's type, and from which 1 have
chiefly derived my description. Unhappily that spadix is entirely stripped of
its fruits. Further iu the Herbarium at Kew are preserved some spadices and
loose spathes referred also to D. grandis, which apparently correspond to the
figure iu the centre of pi. OCX, C. of Griffith's work, but I am not »sure that
these figures really represent tlie spadices of D. grantiis. Of the three Grifilthiaii
ANS. ROT. BOT. GAI . CAU