220 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXV. 



Cultivation in Europe. — " Although the species of Calamus, the 

 cultivation of which has been attempted in the hot houses of extra- 

 tropical countries are pretty numerous, the number of those which 

 have become permanently established is small, owing to its being 

 very difficult to pi'ovide them with conditions of existence like 

 those enjoyed in their native countries. The Calami in our hot 

 houses therefore give but a faint and poor idea of the elegance of 

 their foliage as it appears at the summit of a long, slender and 

 climbing stem. Young plants of Calami are, however, considerably 

 appreciated by horticulturists on account of their highly orna- 

 mental, bright green, graceful pinnate leaves, so that they are 

 frequently offered for sale in commercial catalogues of leaving plants. 



'• In cultivation Calami thrive best in a compost of equal parts 

 of sand}^ loam and vegetable soil formed hy decomposed leaves. 

 They require a warm moist atmosphere and copious watering. I 

 have however to observe that Calami grow in very different situa- 

 tions, from marshy plains at the level of the sea up to an elevation of 

 2,000 metres in the mountains, so that in the cultivation of Calami, 

 as in that of any other plant, it is necessary to know beforehand the 

 natural conditions of their existence and to modif}^ their cultural 

 conditions accordingly. If this be borne in mind, it may be found 

 that probably not a few of the mountain species of Calamus, as for 

 instance those of the Himalaya and Assam, will thrive better in the 

 temperate than in a warm hot-house, while others should receive 

 the treatment of aquatic plants in warm water." (Beccari). 



CONSPECTUS OF THE SPECIES.^ 



A. — Leaves never ciRRiFEiions. 



Group I. — Leaflets man}?^, elongate. Primar}^ spatlies elongate- 

 tubular, dilated and lacerate in their upper part. Sj)adix witli 

 their partial inflorescences and spikelets provided with a pedicellar 

 part which remains included in their respective spatlies. Fruiting 

 perianth explanate (not forming a pedicel to the fruit). Involucro 

 phorum of the female spikelets short, not pedicelliform. Seed with 

 ru.minate albumen ; embryo basilar or nearly so : 



a. Stem erect. Leaf-sheaths not flagelliferous. 



1. G. eredtis. 



h. Scandent. Leaf-sheaths flagelliferous. 



2. G. JlageUmn. 



^ In this and the following' descriptions of the species of Calamus I could 

 not do better but to copy from Bcccari's admirable Monoj^rapli on " The Species of 

 Calamus," which appeared as Vol. XI of the Aunals of the Royal Bot. Card., 

 Calcutta. It had been my intention to omit his frenus altoj^ether : but some 

 Botanists in Europe advised me to include it. Two reasons induced me to follow 

 their advice, on the one hand, the fact that unfortunately very few people have 

 access to Beccari's work, on the other, the more selfish consideration that my series 

 on the Indian Palms would be incomplete by excluding the Genus Calamus, a genus 

 which is better represented in India than any othei-. 



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