AN>-ALS OF THE EOYAL BOTAJSIC GARDEN, CALCUTTA. STENOPHYLLUS
PLATE 13. -Daomouorops hygrophil Marl. F r om a specimen collected b y
Scortechiui at Pemk, fHerb. Beccari).
13. DAEMONOEOPS STENOPHRLLUS Beco. iu Rec, Bot. Surv. Ind. ii, 220.
DESCRIPTION.—Scaudeut. Leaf-sheaths 2-5 cm. in diameter; gibbous-plicate above,
more or less covered with a tobacco-coloured adherent; scurf, armed not very densely
with scattered, solitary or sahseriate and confluent, very unequal but usually large
and broadly laminar, 1-2 cm. long, spreading or deflexed brown-schistaceous spines
the mouth obliquely truncate, fringed with a few scattered, erect, Inng spines. Leaves
elongate, 1'6 m. long in the pinniferous part, terminating in a slender, 80 cm.
loog, clawed cirrus (in one specimen); petiole very short or almost obsolete; the rachis
in its first portion is flattish and not or vary slightly prickly on tha upper surface
which in the intermediate portion is convex with an obtuse, more or less spinulous
angle; only towards the apex the salient angle is acute and smooth; on the under;
surface tbe rachis is convex, smooth or sparingly armed with claws that are solitary,
a long way up and then become ternate, and finally o.nate and lialf-whorled on the
cirrus. Leaflets numerous (about 80 pairs i u ' one specimen), equidistant, about 2 cm,
apart, papyraceous, green on both surfaces, linear, very narrow, 25-35 cm. long,
9 - 1 2 mm. broad, gradually acuminate to a very slender and long filamentous
tip, and narrowing also gradually from below the middle downwards to a rather
acute base which is distinctly callous below, iu the small hollow formed beneatb by
the folding of „tiie limb; sub-tricostulate, or with the mid-costa on the upper surface
acute, bristly spinulous only near the apex and with one rather distinct nerve on each
side of it furnished with a few blackish, short bristles; on the lower surface the midcosta
very sparingly bristly or quite naked; margins almost smooth, or very remotely,
minutely and appressedly spinulous. Female spadix erect, sessile or very nearly so,
spinous at its base, ventricose-fusiform before flowering and rather suddenly narrowing
into a beak about as long as the body, 30-35 cm. long, including the beak, with
5 - 6 very approximate partial inflorescences ; outer spathe thinly but firmly coriaceous,
deeply cymbiform, acutely two-keeled, thinly and more or less partially covered with
the same indumentum as the sheaths, rather acutely two-keeled, armed with not many
but large, broadly laminar, often deeply lacinate, scattered or slightly confluent,
deflexed, 2 - i cm. lung spines; second spathe also rather firm, more or loss spinulous
only near the apex, the others unarmed; axial parts of the spadix sparingly sprinkled
with rusty fiirfuraceous scales; partial infloresences 5-B cm. long; the largest
spikelets, the lowest, 3 - 4 cm. long with t - 5 flowsrs on etfchside; spathels bracteiform,
amplectent, extended at one side into a broadly triangular acute point about as
long as the involucrophorum; the latter obsoletoly angular, short, 2-3 mm. long,
sub-obconic, not callous at its axilla, very appressed to the axis, expanded at its
apex into an obliquely shallowly sabcupular limb, which is produced externally into
a, triangular acute point, the latter acutely keeled on tbe back and usually surpassing
the margin of the involucre; the other side of the involucrophorum subtends the
neuter flower; involucre shallowly cupular, truncate, rather distinctly bidentate on
the side of the neuter flower, and almost completely immersed in the involucrophorum;
areola of the neuter flower sharply bordered with a basilar, horizontal
D. fisaus.'] BECCAEL. THE SPECIES OF DAEMONOEOPS. 65
sear which is very slightly or not at all callous. Female Homers broadly ovate,
6 mm. long ; the calyx cupular, truncate, very obsoletely 3-denticulate, strongly
striately veined; segments of the corolla elongate-triangular, not very acute, twice
as long as the calyx. Neuter flowers erect from inside the involucrophorum, 4-5
mm. long, narrowly oblong, obsoletely 3-gonous or flattened, often slightly curved.
Fruiting -perianth explanate, with a very short but distinct callous base. Fi-uit
spherical, shortly mucronate, 15-16 mm. in diam.; scales in IS longitudinal
series, dirty light-yelloA-isb, not polished except on the margin, which is
lighter than the body and finely, erosely toothed, rather deeply and narrowly
channelled along the middle, the tip rounded and in the scales of the upper part
of the fruit slightly produced and often marked with a dark spot. Seed globular.
HABITAT.—At Sungei Bulu
P. S. No. 905.
the lowland near Pandang on the west coast of
OBSEEVATIONS.—Easily distinguishable from the allied species by its leaves alm.08t
without a petiole, with numerous, very narrow, not very closely set leaflets;
by the outer spathe armed with broad, laciniate, laminar spines; by the fruit with
dull scales, and by the not callous areola of the neuter flowers which are erect
and subtended by the involucrophorum.
In this species aleo, I have observed that some of the ovaries were already
considerably developed, as if they had already been fertilized, even in spadices which
apparently were unopened and with the spathes still completely sheathing the flowers.
PLATE 14.—Daemonorops stunophyllus Bece.—From the type specimen of Plant
Sum. Ko. 905 in Herb. Beccari.
14. DAEMONOROPS USSDS El. Bumphia, iii. 17, pi. 144, D—G (escl. f. A—C) ;
Mart. Hist. Nat. Palm, iii, 327 ; Miq. Fl. Ind. Bat. iii, 89 ;
Walp. Ann. iii, 476, and [v, 827 ; Teij'sm. et Binn. Cat. Hort.
Bogcr. 74 ; Becc. in Rec. Bot. Surv. Ind. ii, 219.
Calanms fissm Miq. Anal. Bot. Ind.,
H. Wendl. in Kerch. Palm., 236.
and De Palm. Arc. Ind.
DESCRIPTION.—Scandent, of moderate or rather large size. Sheathed stem 3-4 cm.
in diameter. Leaf-sheaths more or less coated with an almost black or very darkly
tobacco-coloured, crustaceous indumentum and densely armed with laminar, unequal
( 1 - 5 cm. long.) usually broad-based, rigid, black, scattered, often obliquely inserted
spines. Leaves large, about 2 m. long in the pinniferous part and terminating in a
long and robust cirrus armed with half-whorls of robust black-tipped claws ; petiole
robust, moderately long, 18-22 mm. broad, flat on the upper surface, rounded on the lower
more or less armed on both surfaces, as on the first portion of the rachis, with very
short, unequal, straight, flat, triangular, ascendent prickles and with a few strong divergent
spines on the margins; the rachis spinulous on the acute salient angle on the upper
surface and armed on the lower with solitary or geminate claws, that become 3-Date
and finally 5-nate upwards. Leaflets numerous, equidistant, 15-25 mm, apart, linear-
AHK. ROT. BOT. GARD. OALOUXTA VOL. X I I .