CALAMUS. 



? Calyx and corolla as before. Stamens 6, rudimentary, collected 

 into a cup. Ovary 3-celled; stigmas 3, sessile. Berry 1-seeded, 

 covered with a mail of reversed scales. Albumen horny, with a 

 pustular, even, or polished and ruminated surface. Embryo 

 nearly at the base. 



1233. C. Draco Willd. sp.pl. ii. 203. R. and S. vii. 1323.— 

 (Rumph. v. t. 58. f. 1.) — Indian Archipelago. 



Trunk while the plants are young, erect, and then resembling an 

 elegant, slender palm tree, armed with innumerable dark coloured, 

 flattened, elastic spines, often disposed in oblique rows, with their 

 bases united. By age they become scandent, and overrun trees to a 

 great extent. Leaves pinnate, their sheaths and petioles armed as above 

 described. Leaflets single, alternate, ensiform, margins remotely armed 

 with stiff, slender bristles, as are also the ribs ; from 12 to 18 inches 

 long and about £ of an inch broad. Spadix of the female hermaphro- 

 dite inserted by means of a short, armed petiole on the mouth of the 

 sheath opposite to the leaf, oblong, decompound, resembling a common 

 oblong panicle. Spathes several, 1 to each of the 4 or 5 primary rami- 

 fications of the spadix, lanceolate, leathery; all smooth except the 

 exterior or lower one which is armed on the outside. Calyx turbinate, 

 ribbed, mouth 3-toothed, by the swelling of the ovary split into 3 por- 

 tions, and in this manner adhering, together with the corolla, to the 

 ripe berries. Corolla 3-cleft ; divisions ovate-lanceolate, twice as long as 

 the calyx, permanent. Filaments 6, very broad, and inserted into the 

 base of the corolla. Anthers filiform, and seemingly abortive. Ovary 

 oval. Styles short. Stigma 3-cleft ; divisions revolute, glandular on the 

 inside. Berry round, pointed, of the size of a cherry. Roxb. — One 

 of the resinous astringent substances called Dragon's blood, is obtained 

 from this. 



1234. Elais guineensis Jacq. yields Palm oil. 



1235. Areca Catechu Linn, produces the Betel nuts or Pisang 

 nuts which the natives of India chew for the sake of their astrin- 

 gent qualities. A kind of Catechu is obtained from them. 



Many species besides those already named, yield a kind of 

 Sago. 



583 p p 4 



