104 A N N A L S OP ROYAL BOTANIC GARDEN, CALCUTTA. ID. Loherianus.
PLATE 40.—Daenionovops lamprolepie Bcoc. Portion oi the stem with a spadix
before the anthesis; an entire female spadix in flower; portion of the stem with
R spadix in f r u i t ; an intermediate portion of a leaf.
36. DAEMONOSOPS NIGER B1. Riimphia, iii, 5; Mart. Hist. Nat. Palm, iii, 330;
Miquel, FI. Ind. Bat. iii, 103; Walp. Ann. iii, 480 and v, 829; Becc.
Malesia, i, 88 and in Rec. Bot. Siirv. Ind. ii,
Calamus nxger Willd. Sp. PI. ii, 203; Pers. Ench. (1805)
Palm. Arc. Ind. 29; H. Wandl. in Kerch. Palm., 237.
Palmijmcus niger Rumph. Herb. Amb. v, 101, t. 52.
Miq.
DESCBIPTION.—Robust. Leaf-skeaths strongly gibbous abore, densely clothed except
at the mouth with weak, spreading, scattered, Bolitary, elongate, very slender, brittle,
blackish spines. LeavB$ terminating in a long clawed cirrrus; petiole robust, as thick
as a man's finger, armed on both surfaces with short, straight, ascendent prickles;
the rachis equally prickly, and towards the apex furnished with digitate claws
underneath; leaflets numerous, rather remotely equidistant, lanceolate-ensiform, 40-50
cm. long, acuminate, their mid-costa and one nerre on each side of it bristly
on" the upper «urface and apparently also on the lower; the margins ciliate. Frtiiiing
spadix recurved; the panicle dense, thyrsoid-ovate, on a long and slender, pedicellar,
unarmed part. Fruit globular or slightly ovoid, reddish-brown when mature.
(Description from Rumphius.)
HABITAT—In the northern part of the Island of Ataboina near the Rirer "Guru-
G u r u " . Malayan name "iiotang itam" or "R. T u b u ' - iu Amboinese dialect " Ua
Mette" or " U a tehu".
The Rotang produced by this species is, according to iiumpbius, of very inferior
quality, being brittle and difficult to split into regular strips.
OBSEEVAI'ioiis.—This species is known only from the description and plate of
Rumphius. It seems, however, to be a very distinct species apparently related to
D. 7nacropUruB and D. lamproUpis, from which it difEera chiefly in its rufous mature
fruit, and in the armature of the sheaths. Rumphius describes the leaflets as 15-19
inches long and 4 inches (about 10 cm.) broad, so that the breadth corresponds to
about a fourth of the length, though in the plate it is only about -^th; the leaflets
therefore should not be more than 3-4 cm. broad. The fruit is said to be a little
larger than that of " Rottang Bezaar" (D. Calapparins) which is 22 mm. in diam.
in Rumph's plate, while that of D. niger is, in the plate, 15 mm. only.
3 7 . DAEMONOKOPS LOHEKIANDB Becc. sp. n.
Apparently ecandent, and of moderate size. Sheathed stem 2-5 cm. in diameter
Leaf-sheaihs obliquely truncate, entire and smooth at the mouth, which is quite
devoid of any kind of spines or cilia; armed with irregular oblique series
of rather small, blackish, flattened, 5-10 mm. long spiculae. Leaves about 1-3
m. long in the pinniferous part, terminating in a long, rather slender, clawed
cirrus; petiole about 25 em. long, 12 mm. broad, 8 mm. thick, strongly biconvex
D. Draco.'] B E C C A R I . THE S P E C I E S OP D A E M 0 N 0 E 0 P 8. 105
with rather sharp edges, covered on both surfaces and especially near the margins with
small, nscendent spines; rachis convex and piickly on the upper surface in its lower
portion; towiirds the apical part the salient angle becomes acutc and closely spinulous;
underneath the rachis is armed towards the base with solitary very sharp clatvs, which
highur up become at first S-nate and then 5-nate. Leaflets numerous, equidistant,
closely set; those of the intermediate portion are 15-20 mm. apart, narrowly lanceolate,
opaque and concolorous on both surfaces, 20-23 cm. long, 14-18 mm. broad,
narrowing from bolow the middle to a rather acute base, acuminate to a filiform aud
laterally bristly tip ; on the upper surface the mid-costa and one rather slender norve
on each side of it are rather closely set with bristles ; underneath the mid-costa
alone carries a few long bristles. Mule spadix elongate before flowering, very narrow
and subterete, about 12 mm, in diam., 45 cm. long and erect; it has a very
short densely prickly pedicellar part, about 2 cm, long, furnished with 7-8
primary spathes, each of these rising in gradation out of that immediately below ;
the outer spathe is rather acutely two-keeled, with tufts of small radiating
spiculae on the keels, otherwise it is almost smooth, obliquely truncate at the
mouth, which bears a few spiculae and prolonged ai; the apex into a rather
long, prickly, tail-like narrow rostrum; the other spathes terminate also in a more
or less prickly slender rostrum, otherwise thoy are smooth. Male flowers in comparison
with those of other species are very long and slender, being 8-10 mm. in length
and only 1 mm. thick; the calyx is tubular, elongate and cylindrical, shortly
3-dentate; the segments of the corolla are very narrow, striate, acuminate, and almost
3 times as long as the calyx ; anthers very narrowly linear.
HâBiTAT,—Discovered by Zo^cr in Luzon at Siya Bundoc, Prov. of Rizal in the
Philippines, in June 1905 (No. 7073 in Herb. Kow.).
OBSEKVATIOKS.—Of this very distinct species I have seen only one specimen,
with young male spadices. It is apparently related to the species of the group of
D. lamprolepis ; the outer spathe, however, is as in the species of the group of
Bysirix much shorter than the inner ones, but in the absence of the fruit its exact
affinities must remain doabtful, D. Loherianus is easily distinguishable by the very
strongly biconvex petiole, and especially by the very slender and, relatively, very
long male flowers which have a tubular calyx, and by the mouths of the leaf-sheaths
being quite smooth, and devoid of any kind of spine, bristle or cilia.
PLATK 41.—Daemonorops Loherianus Becc. It
t h e Herbarium at Kew.
the type specimen in
38. DARMONOKOPS DJÌACO Blume, Rumphia iii, 8 (part-ly as to description)
pi. 132, and perhaps also pi. 137 C., and excluding pi. 131; Martius, Hist.
Nat. Palm, iii, 205, ind edit, (partly) and pi. 175, s. f. 1 (fruit) and
probably also f. 6, 8 (seed); Miq. Fl. Ind. Bat. iii, 95, aud Prodr. Fl.
Sum. 78.
Calamus Draco "Willd. Sp. PI. ii, 1, 203 ; Mart. Hist. Nat. Palm, iii, 211 1st
edit. (excl. f. ix. pi. 116); Roxburgh Fl. Ind. iii, 774 (partly).
C. Roiang 8 Draco Linn. Sp. PI. 463.
ANN. ROT. BOT. QAKD., CALCCTTA, TOL. X I I .