Q8 ALINALS OP THE HOTAL BOTANIC GARDEN, OALCUTTA. B'mmrtdijkU.
spinules are confined to the acute, salient angle, and disappear towards the apex;
on the lower surface it is aruied in the usual -sray with claws, solitary below,
3-5-nate upwards, and half-whorled on the cirrus, Leaflets very numerous, very
regularly equidistant, inserted at an angle of about 45°, 12-16 mm, apart,
thinly papyraceous, green on both surfaces, slightly paler on the lower, linear
or linear-sublanceolate, 20-30 cm. long, 10-13 mm. broad, somewhat narrowed
towards a not very acute base and gradually acuminate from about the middle,
or even below, to a capillary tip; the mid-costa and a rather distinct nerve on
each side of it are furnished with rather long, brown bristles on the upper
surface; on the lower the mid-costa only is finely aud closely ciliate; transverse
veinleis slender, but distinct and much interrupted; margins closely and appressedly
bristlyspinulons. Male spadix . . . . Female spadiz before flowering rather
broadly ventricose-fusiform, rather suddenly narrowing into a beak as lonsr as tbe
body, erect, sessile or almost so, its base densely armed with fiat, reversed spines,
35 cm. long in three specimens (but perhaps sometimes larger) including the beak ;
outer spathe deeply cymbiform, distinctly two-keeled only at the base, thinly coriaceous,
armed with numerous, thinly laminar, very fiuely and long acuminate, elastic,
scattered, very unequal, reversed spines; of these some are laciniate, up to 4-5
nmi. broad at the base, and 3-3-5 cm. long, and others almost setifcrm; those at
the base of the beak are amongst the longest, but are slender and spreading;
the second and following spathes unarmed; axial parts of the spadix glabrous;
partial infiorescences b-6, composed of only 6-7 spikeleta; the h
ipikelets
(the lowest) about 3-5 cm. long with 3-5 fiowers on each side,
and with the
Bpaces between two flowers acutely angular, 2-4 mm. long
bracteiform,
amplectent, extended at one side into a broadly triangular, acute limb;
•volucrophorum
protruding a good deal beyond the spathels, obconical, angular, not distinctly callous
at its axilla "and expanded at its apex into an obh'que shallowly subcupular
limb which at one of its sides subtends the erect neuter flower; involucre
raised above the involucrophorum by a rather thick base, its limb shallowly
cupular, truncate, entire; areola of the neuter flower flut, with a basal scar and
without the usual semicircular swollen border on its upper margin. Female flowers
broadly ovate, 5 mm. loog; the calyx cupular, truncate, with 3 very minute projecting
t e e t h ; the corolla about twice as long as tbe calyx, its segments triangular, acute.
¿¡cutsr pwers slender, acute, 5 mm. long; their calyx with 3 acute teeth; their corolla
about twice as long. Fruiting spadix very broadly ovate, very dense, 20 cm. long,
15 cm. broad in one specimen; the basal internode of its main axis shghtly
compressed, 2 cm. long, 1 cm. thick, not at all swollen at the base. Fruiting
perianth explanate. Fndt globose, often very slightly depressed, very suddenly and
distinctly conically beaked, U-18 mm. in diam., 12-14 mm. long (not including
beak); scales in 18 series, snperficially channelled along the centre, shining, reddish
or Btraw-yellowish brown, with a narrow, light, scarious and erosely toothed margin
and a more or less distinct intramarginal line; the tip rather distinctly produced,
obtuse often with a more or less distinct dark spot at its base. Seed somewliat
broader than loog, almost equally bi-convex, 13-13 mm. across, 11 mm. high, 9
mm. thick, elliptical in vertical section.
HABITAT. Sumatra, in the province of Palembang. Malayan name "Rotang Sobo."
D. angustifoUus.'] BECCASI. THE SPECIES OF DAEMONOBOPS.
OBSBRVATIONS.—I have received some specimens of this, with female
flower, from the Botanic Garden of Buitenzorg, where it is cultivated under the
original name of D. margiiiatus T. et B. Under the same name I have received
some loose fruits from the Utrecht Herbarium, and these have enabled me to recognise
as belonging to this ppecies a fine, entire spadis loaded with fruits, which I have
also received from Buitenzorg; the characters of the fruiting spadix in the
description above are derived from this material.
D. Binncndijkii, though in general appearance and dimensions similar to D.
iriehrous, oSers some characters of its own which render its ideutification no very
difficult task. The involucrophorum is not distinctly callous at its axilla and the
involucre of the female flower eons pic aously protrudes beyond the involucrophorum,
has a thick base, and one of its sides is wholly occupied by the fiat and not
swollen areola of the neuter flower. Furth.jr D. Binnendijhii differs from D.
irichrom and D. angustifoliiis in its outer spathe, which is armed with long, broad, very
thin, laminar, often laciniate and excessively finely acuminate spines, and in tbe
beak armed at its base with very long spreading spiues.
PLATE 17.---Daemonorops Binnendijkii Beco. From a plant cultivated at
Buitenzorg (Herb, Beccari.); the two fruits in the lower corner of the left-hand side of
the plate are from the Utrecht Herbarium.
16. DAEMONOBOPS ANGUSTIFOLIDS Mart. Hist. Nat. Palm. iii, 329, pi. Z
XVIII f. iv (diagr.); Walp. Ann. iii, 476, and v. 827; Miq. Fl. Ind.
Bat. iii, 89; Hook. f. FI. Brit. Ind. vi. 464; Becc. in Ree. Bot. Surv.
Ind. H, 219.
D. carcharodon Ridley Mat, Fl. M^l. Pen. ii, 178.
Calamus angmtifolius Griff, in Oal. Journ. Nat. Hist, v, 89, and Palms
Brit. Ind. 95, pl. CCXIII, A. B. ; H. Wendl. in Kerch. Palm, 235.
DESCEIPTXON.—Scandent, of moderate size. Sheathed stem 2-2 5 cm. in diameter.
Leaf-sheaths armed with many fiat, solitary, scattered or sub-seriate narrowly triangular,
rather short, unequal spines, of which the largest are about 1 cm. long; petiole short
(10 cm. long in one specimen), flattish on its upper surface, where densely armed,
especially near the margins, with very short, straight, fiat, triangular, ascendent spines,
on the lower surface convex but similarly armed as on the upper with short spines even
on the margins; rachis in its lower portion prickly on both surfaces like the
petiole, higher up minutely spiuulous on the salient angle; the latter at fii-st obtuse
and very acute and smooth from the middle upwards, furnished beneath with
3-5-nate claws, which become half-whorled on the terminal cirrus. Leaflets
numerous, very regularly and closely set, 10-15 mm. apart, more spreading
than in allied species, often almost horizontal, linear, comparatively very narrow,
thinly papyraceous, green on both surfaces, 20-25 cm. long, 8-10 mm. broad, somewhat
narrowed to a not very acute base, gradually acuminate from above the
middle to a capillary tip, rather distinctly tricostulato on the upper surface where
the mid-costa is bristly spinulous only from the middle upwards, and the side costulae
are furnished from not very far above the base with rather long bristles; on the
lower surface the mid-costa only is closely spinulous-ciliate. Male and female