9 2 ANJSALS OF THE EOYAL BOTANIC GAJIDE-V, CALCUTTA. [/). MICKOTHAMNUS.
28. DAEMONOROPS MICROTHAMNDS Becc. ID Itec. Bot. Surv. Ind. ii, 221; Sidley Mat.
Fl. Mai. Poniu. ii, 175,
DESCKIPTION.—Erect, very a mall. Sheathed stem I cm, in diameter. Lmi-shaaihs of
the upper pai't of tlie plant not gibbous above and only sliglitly swollen at the basa
of the petiole, more or lesa distinctly loQgitadinally striate and costalate, the surface
rusty furfuraceous-subtomentose, .spariogly armed with very weak, small, iamiuar or
sub-bristly scattered spiues; the mouth spineless. Ocrea very short, exactly horizontally
truncate. Radical leaves . . . . Leaves of the upper and fertile part of the plant very
small, shortly cirriferous, 10-15 cm. long in the pinuiferoua part ; the petiole
spineless, vei-y short, 1-2 cm. long, flattened, plano-convex, with very acute margins ;
rachis armed beneath along the centre o£ the dorsum with solitary, straight, slightly
deflexed prickles and showing an acute salient angle and flat side-faces above ; leaflets
rather numerous, 22-25 on each side, equidistant, closely set, very small, linear, 4-5
cm. long, 2-3 mm. broad, slightly narrowing to the base and gradually acuminate to a
finely subulate and bristly tip; on the upper surface the mid-costa alone bearing a few
comparatively large bristles near the apes; on the lower surface quite smooth or with
very fow small bristles along the mid-costa; margins with very few cilia near the apex,
otherwise smooth. Spadices crowded at the summit of the plant, before flowering
ventricose-fusiform, rather shortly beaked, 10-12 cm. long, inserted near the mouth of
their sheaths, erect, supported on a short, slender, smooth, pedicellar part ; outermost
spathe obsoletcly two-keeled, more or less covered with a very dark or tobacco-coloured
scurfy pubescence, rather suddenly narrowing into a beak, which is only the third or
fourth part of the length of the body, sparingly armed with very fine, weak, scattered,
bristle like, spreading or deflexed spines; all the other spathes unarmed. Female spadix
with very few (3-4), very small, slightly rusty-furfuraceous partial iafloreseences, each of
which is composed of only 2-3 very depauperate and few-flowered spikelets; secondary
spathes bracteiform, very acuminate; spathels bracteiform, broadly triangular, acute or
acuminate at one side, about as long as or longer than the involucrophoruni; the latter
sub-obconical, short and thick, broadened at the summit into an asymmetrical subcupular
limb acute or acuminate at one side, its tip exceeding the rim of the involucre which
is cupular, usually slightly produced and acute on the side of the neuter flower; areola
of the latter very distinct, concave, suborbicular with a more or less semicircular border
Female Jlowers ovoid-oblong, o mm. long, 3 mm. thick; the calyx cylindraceous,
superficially 3-denticulate ; the corolla less than twice as long as the calyx, its
segments elongate, triangular, acute. Fruiting perianth explanate. Fruit small, globular,
shortly gradually conically and acutely beaked, 12 mm. in diam,; scales in 15
longitudinal series, broadly and not deeply channelled along the centre, rather dull,
with polished 'apes, tawny, with a rather broad discoloured margin and a faint and
narrow intraniarginal line; the apex regularly triangular, acute or somewhat blunt.
Seed globular.
HABITAT.—The Malayan Peninsula, where collected in the district of Perak by Father
Scoriealiim.
OBSI-:KVATIONS.—This is the smallest of all known Daemonorops, but probably it is
nothing more than a diminutive form of D. petiolaris. The latter however is known
f rom male plants, and D. microthamnus from female Th e muc^h 1' spmous outer
D. tabacinus.'] BECCAUI. THE SPECIES OF DABMONOEOPS. 93
spathe, the leaf-rachis armed beneath with solitary straight prickles, the leaflets with the
mid-costa alone setigerous on the upper surface and theii- margins with only 2-3 long
cilia near the apex, and the very small dicnensions of its vegetative parts, are characters
that may <lepend upon nanism and are of little value if not accompanied by essential
differences in the reproductive organs aod especially in the fruit, but the fruit of D.
petiolaris is unknown.
On the outer spathe of D. microthamnus, as on that of D. petiolaris, the usual
pulverulent or scurfy indumentum is accompanied by a kind of coarse pubescence, which
I have observed only in those two species and in D. tabacinus.
PLATE 32. Daemonorops microthamnus Beae. Scortechini's specimens in Herb.
Beccaii.
29. DAEMONOROPS TABACINDS Becc. in Hook. f. Fl. Brit. Ind. vi, 466, and in Rec.
Bot. Surv. Ind. ii, 222.
DESCRIPTION.—Small, erect O'7-L m. high. Sheathed stem about 2 cm. in diam. Almost
every part of the plant, even the spines, covered more or less abundantly with an adherent
furfuraceous scurf of a very dark tobacco colour. Laf-sheaths armad with feeble,
scattered, laminar, subulate, seriate but individually distinct spines; the mouth emooth.
Ocroa very short, exactly horizontally truncate. Radical leaves non-cirriferous, elongate,
considerably larger than the upper ones, and with a very long petiole which is terete,
6-7 mm. in diam., densely armed towards its base with long flat obliquely and closely
seriate spines and nearly smooth higher up, except for a few spine-s along the centre of
the dorsum. Leaflets very numerous, equidistant, rather closely set, very narrowly linear,
dull on both am-faces, more or less punctulate-furfuraceous on the lower surface, 23-28
cm. long, about 1 cm. broad, rather firm, with the mid-costa and one rather distinct
nerve on each side of it bristly-spinalous on the upper surface ; on the lower
the mid-costa alone very finely and closely ciliate from the base to the apex; the
margins finely, closely and spreadingly ciliate. Upper leaves considerably smaller than
the lower ones (40-50 cm. long), shortly cirriferous; the petiole gradually shorter, in
one specimen of the intermediate part of the stem 30 cm. long, in the higher part,
flat and finely scabrid above, armed on the margins with long, solitary, rather remote,
horizontal or subdeflexed spines, and on the dorsum with straight or slightly hooked, 1
cm. long prickles, that are solitary at first, becomiag on the rachis more claw-shaped and
3-nate, with the central usually longer than the lateral; leaflets similar to those of the
radical leaves, but shorter and more rigid, neatly and closely pectinate, the largest 15-20
cm. long, and I cm. broad, in the uppermost leaves 5-12 cm. long, 5-8 mm. broad with
the bristles on the mid-costa on the lower surface less numerous than on the radical
leaves, on the upper surface usually on the central costa alone; the margins more or less
deciduously spreadingly ciliate and bearing traces of the general tobacco-coloured scurf.
Spadices ventricose-fusiform, or very broadly elliptical, suddenly contracting into a very
narrow beak which is longer or at least as long as the body, supported by a very short,
smooth, or marginally prickly pedicel; outermost spathe very broadly cymbiform,
covered with a very dark tobacco-coloured scurfy pubescence, arra.ed on the back with
numerous and closely packed, very narrowly laminar and sub-criniform, dull, furfuraceous,
brittle, elongate (2-3 cm. long) spiculae, that are solitary or confluent aod comb-like, especially
on the keels and at the base of the beak; second and third spathes not distinctly
keeled, spinous only noar the apex, also furfuraceous externally. Mah spadix with the