THE PALMS OF BRITISH INDIA AND CEYLON. 4().'j 



spines, upper striate, unarmed or sparingly spinous, uppermost 

 fuunel-sluvped, truncate. Male spadix decompound, the long 

 spreading spikes with short spaihels benring short broad flat 

 spikelets, ^-1 inch long, of most closely imbricate spathelKiles. 

 Female spadix very stout, with much longer spikes. Flowers deep- 

 ly sunk in the tnincate spathellules, ovoid nearly ^ inch long ; 

 calyx deeply 3-lobed ; petals broad, connate at the base, both 

 striate. Fruit seated on the enlarged perianth, globose, ^ inch in 

 diameter, yellow-brown; beak long, stout, conical, scales 8-10 in a 

 vertical series, tumid, with narrow white furfuraceous margins 

 and a deep central channel ; seod globose, endosperm deeply rumi- 

 nate, embryo lateral. 



Habitat. — Ceylon : Moist low country, rather common below 

 1,500 feet. Kalutara, Sabaragamuwa frequent. — (Endemic in 

 Ceylon). 



42. CALAMUS OVOIDEUS, Thw. ex Trim, in Journ. Bot. XXIIT, 269 

 (1885); Hook. Fl. Brit. Ind. VI, 457 : Trim. Fl. Ceyl. IV, 335: Becc. in 

 Kec. Bot. Surv. Ind. II, 21 1, Ann. Key. Bot. Gard. Calc. XI, 104, 382. 



Name. Ta-mbutu-wel (Singh.) 



Stem stout, scandent. Leaves 14 feet long, including the fla- 

 gellum, and more; leaflets 10-24 inches long and :^-l inch broad, 

 equidistant, alternate, broadly linear, aciiminate, tip bri&tly, 3- vein- 

 ed, setulose beneath, margins smooth ; rliachis fugaceously sc\iify, 

 margins prickly, doisally rounded, with solitary hooked spines; 

 tiagellum armed with short, broad, many-toothed spines ; sheath 

 densely armed with rings of flattened, deflexed, often lacerate, 

 black spines. Lower spathes armed with short, black, reflexed 

 spines. Flowers not seen. Fruit seated on the shortly pedicelled 

 slightly enlarged perianth, | inch long; obovoid, strongly beaked, 

 scales 10-12 in a vertical series, tumid, deeplj'^ channelled in the 

 centre, pale yellowish-grej^, boruered with orange-brown. 



Habitat. — Ceylon : Moist low country, rare, Sabaragamuwa. — 

 Endemic in Ceylon. 



43. CALAMUS ANDAMANICUS, Kmtz in Jowrn. k8\at. Soc. Beng.. 

 XLIII, pt. 2 (1874), 211 pi. XXVII-A and >.XVIlIand Vol. XLV, pt. 2 

 (1876), 151 ; For. Fl. Brit. Burm. II, 519 ; Hook. F. Fl. Brit. Ind. VI, 457; 

 Becc. in Rec. Bot. Surv. Ind. II, 211, Ann. Roy. Bot. Gard. Calc. XI, 104, 

 385. 



Vernacular Names, — Chowdah, Charab (Andamans), Nat 

 (Nicobars). 



Description. — Stem lofty, scandent, as thick as an arm (with 

 the sheoths on). Leaflets 2-2^ feet long, 1 inch broad, alternate, 

 equidistant, linear, subulate-acuminate, 3-costate, margins thick- 

 ened and costaB setose ; petiole and rhachis armed with stout, 

 recurved spines ; petiole with blackish, tuberous-based spines mixed 

 with long black ones, sheath red brown, covered with seriate whorls 

 II 



