230 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATUEAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXV. 



sometimes confluent with a spinous rhachis for half their length. 

 Lower spathe elongate, cylindric, unarmed, upper very slender, 

 mouth truncate, entire, spadix very long, slender, decompound, 

 very sparingly spinous, branches distant; spikes very many, i-l 

 inch long, spathels short, patelliform, imbricate. Male flowers ^ 

 inch long ; calyx tubular, striate, lobes short ; petals twice as long 

 or more, narrow, straight or falcately curved; connate at the base ; 

 filaments very short, conical, tip subulate, straight. Fr. seated on the 

 slightly enlarged perianth, globose, ^ inch in diameter, pale yellow ; 

 beak very small ; scales 6-7 in a vertical series, very broad with 

 scarious brown margins and an obscure channel in the middle ; 

 endosperm subruminate ; embryo basilar. 



Habitat. — Ceylon. Moist low country below 1,000 feet, rather 

 rare. Reigaur and Pasdun Korales, Hiniduma, Galle. — Endemic. 

 Flowers. — In March. 



10. CALAMUS RADIATUS, Thw. Enum. PI. Zeyl. Addenda, 431 (1864) : 

 Hooker f . Fl. Br. Ind. VI, 442 ; Trim. Fl. Ceyl. IV, 333 ; Becc. in Rec. Bot. 

 Surv. Ind. II, 20; Ann. Roy. Bot. '^ard. Calc. XI, 75, 168. 



Name. — Kukula-wel (Singh.). 



Stem very slender, scandent : sheaths flagelliferous, densely 

 armed with short acicular spines which are free or are connate 

 below in transverse ridges mixed with long bristles, upper trans- 

 versely rugose. Leaves radiately G-8-foliolate ; petiole 2-4 inches 

 long ; rhachis rather slender, bearing small scattered recurved 

 spines. Leaflets 8-12 inches long and f inch broad, linear acumi- 

 nate, tiiin, 3-veined, midrib beneath and margins quite smooth. 

 Spathes few, very long, clavatel}^ funnel-shaped, cuspidate. 

 Spadix polygamo-dioecious, very long, slender, decompound, 

 armed with small recurved spines ; primary branches 2-6, 2-3 feet 

 long; spikes ^-f inch long, rather distant, reflexed, 3-15-flowered, 

 naked. Spathels and spathellules cup-shaped. Male flo\\"ers: 

 Calyx short, cylindric, striate ; petals much longer, connate below 

 in a short tube; filaments conical, tip subulate, straight; pistillode 

 oblong, 3-fid. Female flowers J^ inch long ; calyx cupular, lobes 

 broad, acute, striate ; petals short, acute, striate. Fruit seated on 

 the slightly enlarged perianth, globose. ^ inch in diameter, shortly 

 beaked ; scales about 8 in a vertical series, broadly triangular, dull 

 yellow with narrow red-brown entire margins, and an obscure 

 median channel ; endosperm ruminate ; embryo basilar. 



Habitat. — Ceylon. Moist low country below 1,000 feet, 

 rather common, Hiniduma, Hewesse, Kalutara. — Endemic. 



Flowers. — In February and March. 



(7'o he continued.) 



