JQG ANNALS OP THE LIORAL COTANIC GARDEN, CALCUTTA. [D. DtaCO.
Pa^mijunciis Draeo Rumph. Herb. Amb. 114, pi. 5S f. A. B.
DrakenUoeds Rottmg Valentyn, nescbr. Amb. iii, 218, pi. X L I X.
Eolang Dsjcrcrtanf] Kaempf. Amoeil. Exot. 554.
D i ! S c » i F r ! o i i . - S c a i i d o i i t , o£ moderato size. L e a f - M b strongly gibbous under
t h e base of the petiole, armed with elongate, i i e e d l e d i k e , seriate, erect {deoiduous ?)
spines Uaven have a r a t h e r elongate and l a t e r a l l y p r i c k l y petiole, and a rachis armed
on the upper snrface with ascendent stiaight »pinnies f.nd clawed uuderneatli.
U a p h 30 cm. long, 2 cm. broad, rather numerous, and remotely s»b-eqn.d..tanl,
l i n e a r - l a n c e o l a t e , acun.inate, ciUato on the margins, and bristly on 3 nerves bn both
s n r t a e e s . FamU sfMix erect or nodding, e O - 7 5 cm. long on the whole; the
flowering paniolo baa 5-6 short partial inflorescences, caoh carrying a few tlitck
scantily-flowered spikalets; the peduncular part is rather slender, and is more or less
a r m e d with short, digitate, divergent spines. Fruit very slightly narrower in i t s upper
p a r t than at its base, but not distinctly pyriform.
HABITAT.-The S. E. coast of Sumatra at Palembang {Rumph). Befera.ble to D.
Dmeo are I believe, two specimens collected in the Kesidenoy <il P a l e m b a n g by
T e i i s m a n n , of which one f r om Muara dua consists of only a spadix w.tn very young
f r u i t {No. 3690 Herb. Hort. Bogor-j and the other from Batu Kadja .Herb. Hort.
B o r a r . No. 358S) which is only a portion of a f r u i t i n g spadix, bnt not one of the
f r u L is l e f t entire. No other parts of the plant ate present.
OlJSEEVATIOUS.—Only the Palmijuucm Dmeo growing at Palembang, described and
fi,ared by Knmph (L »•) ^e considered as being Ihe true Drac,. Blunie
w r i t e s that the figure of FalmijuMm Draco given by Eumpli, which represent the
t r u e D Dr«,o yC. Dr«co Wdld.) is mediocre and false as to the fruit. I believe,
however that it is f a i r l y good for h i . time, as t h e r e is a small group of Dragon's bloodv
i e l d i n « ' Daemmrop, (O. and il. Draconcelh,, which have the leaf-sheaths
„ m e d with small, seriate, erect, (usnally deeidnous, spines, and also a s h g h t l y comcillynvoid
f r u i t In Kumph's plate the leaves appear noa-civriferous, only because they
„ e m sent to h im without their terminal a p p . n d a g e , and the f m . t appears not qmte
fan grown. Draco of Martins is a p p a r e n t l y the true Calamm Draco W, d.
T t o the fruit represented m Plate ITo f. x. 1 of the H „ t . Nat M m . ,„, while
a . 0 . Bee. in respect to the figures x 3. 5. 0 of the same plate
1 her the fruit represented in Plate 116 fig. ix of the Hn,t. Nat Palm ,„,
I ha T o Dra«, (see the text p. 211, first edit.) is not certainly that of this
T h e description of -D™» a . given by Blume is an amalgamation of the
c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s of more than one species, in which are also incorporated those of the
' „ r„oo I have been able to ascertain this faet by the inspection of a good
n o f ' t h e material examined by Blnme himself and kindly forwarded to me by
C l a t e Dr. Boerlage. Amongst this material together with some portions of
i t e r L t really do belong to ^ . . c ^ ^ ^ T^
r ' Z l y " ^ " " » t " s e ^ r - . . .rem Palembang are
0 Draco ^ BECCAUI. THE SPECIES OP DAEMONOIIOPS. 107
lono- and 2-5 cm. broad, have on their upper surface a few black bristles on a
slemier nerve on each side of the mid-costa, and still fewer on this latter;
u n d e r n e a t h the bristles are rather conspicuous and numerous on 3 nerves, especially
f r o m the middle upwards. Those leaflets of which Blnme writes " t r i n e r v i a , nervis snpra
a r . . n t c pron.inentibus, praesertim in facie adversa et margiuis instar setulosis, inter
ho's neivos primarios aliis tcnuioribus semipellucidis d i s t i n c t a " correspond to those
which I consider to oelong either to J>. m,lmochaet„. or to D. palmlamoui. I
t h e r e f o r e believe tliat in Blun.o's description of D. Draco the leaflets are those of
one of the above mentioned species, while the descriptiim of the l e a f - s h e a t h s may
m r y well apiJy to the leaf-sheaths of D. ruber, but not to those of the true
D. Drnco.
Among the f r u i t s considered by Blume as those of D. Draco^ t h e r e ore in the
L e y d e n Herbarium several f r om diflerent souroos, a p p a r e n t l y belonging to more than
one spccies, and presenting noteworthy difierence. amongst themselves, especially in
t h e shapes of their seeds. Some of these fruits with a seed broader than long
seem to me, to belong to D. ruber (C. ruber Keinw.;; the seed of others much
t h a n.bl f s t of D. Draeomllm, b e i n g flattish o n t h e r a p h a l side, b u t t n e y
D. Draco Wind. A fruit of this kind
may possibly belong to the true
r e p r e s e n t e d by Martins in plate 175, f. X 1, of which probably the figures
6, 8
X 6 S represent the seed, this being oblong, while that of f.
d i s t i n c t l y conical; this last is, I believe, the seed of D. proprnjuu,.
T b e plate 133 of Eumphia may really r e p r e s e n t D. Draco Willd.
T h e canes ijescribed by Eumph with intemodcs feet loti;
p o r t i o n Is figured
" H e r b a r i u m Amboin
almost certainly
of which a
a n d which Is
those of Calamul
i m p e r f e c t l y known,
g r o w i n g especially
p l a t e 119 f. D. of the '
t h e r e atiribated to Palmijum Draco,
Scipiotium.
I n conclusion, P. Draco from Palembang is even yet vm-y
but seems to differ from its very near afly D. propiiqtms,
i n the Malay Peninsula, by its leaf-sheaths bearing spicnlae, and not laminar spine,
and by the fruit not being distmctly pyriform, and probably also by some
p e c u l i a r i t i e s in the seed.
T h e specimens of fl. Draco collected by T e i j s m a n n in Palembang, which
I consider as belonging to the typical form, have the peduncular part of the
spadix cimsidoiably flattened and spinous only on the m a r g i n s ; the very youijg f r u it
of No :t590 is entirely and very abundantly covered with the cliaracteristic
ed resin is ovoid and tcrndnates In an acute conical point. Of the outermost
s n a t h e some slashed portions which are still attached to the spathe, are quite
devoid of any kind of spines. The portion of the f u l l y developed f r u i t i n g spadix
of No, 3588, shows the spikolets with a very thick, angular, zig-zag sinuon,
axis and a considerable callus at their axillas; they bear disticliously 3 - 5 fruits
on 'each side, but of the fruits only small ' f r a g m e n t s of the pericarp remain
attached to them, so t h a t from these alone it is impossible to recognize tne t r u e form
of the e n t i r e f r u i t . The seed is wanting. Finally I consider as r e f e r a b l e to D. Drac,
a Dacmonorofc collected in Sumatra, In P r i a m a n , by Dlepenhorst (No. 3516 Herb. Hort.
ANN. HOT. BOT. GAIIU,, CALCUTTA, VOL. S I I .