THE PALMS OF BltlTLSU INDIA AND CEYLON. 389 



Name. — Ela-wel (Singh.). 



Stem slende)', scaiident ; sheaths flagelliferous, copiously armed 

 with straight, flat, lanceolate and subulate, pale spines, ^-1 inch 

 long. Leaves about 3 feet long ; petiole armed below with flat and 

 above with stout recurved spines ; rhachis not produced into a fla- 

 gellum, scurfy, armed with short recurved spines ; leaflets nume- 

 rous, 12-18 inches long and ^— | inch broad, equidistant, linear- 

 lanceolate, coriaceous, margins setulose, 3-costate beneath, smooth, 

 or midrib remotely setulose. Spadix very long, slender, armed 

 with short recurved spines and terminated by a clawed flagellum ; 

 lower spathes or all armed with very short spines, mouth of lowest 

 dilated, lacerate. Male spikes recurved ; sputhels coriaceous, very 

 obliquely cup-shaped, acute. Male flowers distichous, crowded, 

 about ^ inch long ; calyx o-fld to the middle, cupular ; petals and 

 stamens confluent in a stipes; filaments filiform ; anthers oblong. 

 B^emale flov,-ers in larger spikes, not as much crowded as the males. 

 Fmit ^ inch long, broadly ellipsoid with a large conical truncate 

 beak, scales broader than long, aboiit 10 in a vertical series, not 

 channelled, pale yellow, bordered with red-brown. 



Habitat. — Ceylon : Moist low country, rare, Pasdun Korale, 

 Colombo. — Endemic. 

 Flowers in September. 



16. CALAMUS PSEUDO-RIVALIS, Becc. in Ann. Roy. Bot. Gard. 

 Calc. XI, 83, i^22. 



Vernacular Name. — Pentong (Nicobars). 



Description. — Very probably scandent and of moderate size. 

 Female spadix very elongate, flagelliform, the clawed flagellum 

 reaching 2 m. Primary spathes elongate, cylindric, often longitu- 

 dinally split, more or less prickly ; partial inflorescences slender, 

 about 1 m. in length, with 10-12 spikelets on each side; secondary 

 spathes elongate, cylindric. Spikelets 8-10 cm. long, with 18-20 

 distichous flowers on each side. Fruiting perianth not pedicelli- 

 fonn. Fruit small, ovate, rounded at both ends, abruptly contract- 

 ed into a cylindric 2 mm. long beak, about 1^ cm. long including 

 the beak, about 1 cm. broad. Scales in 21 series, faintly chan- 

 nelled along the middle. 



Habitat, — Nicobar Islands, 



17. CALAMUS METZIANUS, Schlecht, in Linnaea XXVI (1853), 

 727 ; Hook Fl. Brit. Ind. VI, 462 ; Becc. in Rec. Bot. Surv. Ind. II, 217, 

 Ann. Roy. Bot. Gard. Calc. XI, 82, 221. — C rudentum (non Lour.), Mart. 

 Hist. Nat. Palm. III. 340. 



Description. — Size of leaves and leaf-sheaths as in C. rivalis. 

 Fruit broadly ovoid, distinctly and abniptly contracted into a 



