THE PALMS OF BRITISH INDIA AND CEYLON. 409 



Habitat. — Khasi.i Hills. 

 Uses. — Fruit edible. 



49. CALAMUS NAMBARIENSIS, Becc. in Ann. lloy. Bot. Gard. 

 Oalc. XI, HI, 4o3. 



Veknaculak Name. — Hoka Bhet (Assam). 



Description. — Scandent, rather robust. Leaf-sheaths 3-4 cm. 

 in diameter, armed with large, broad, sub-seriate, horizontal or 

 deflexed spines intermingled with smaller ascendent ones. Leaves 

 3 m. long in the piuniterous part; petiole very short. Leaflets 

 spreading, remotely sub-equidistant, lanceolate-ensifoim, about 50 

 cm. long, 4 cm. broad with 3 or sometimes 5 smooth costse ; mar- 

 gins obsoletely spinulous. Male spadix simply decompotmd or par- 

 tially supra-decompound ; spikelets callous at their axils, spreading 

 or deflexed, 3-4 cm. long, flowers on each side. Spathels closely 

 packed, concave, ovate, bracteiform. Fruit apparently similar to 

 that of C. Khasianus. but more ovoid and with scales in 21 series. 



Habitat. — Assam. 



60. CALAMUS INERMIS, T. Anders Jour. Linn. Soc. XI, (1869) 

 11 ; Gamble Man. Inrl. Timb. 424. — C. latifolius {non Roxb.) Becc. in Hook, 

 f. Fl. Brit. Ind. VL, 455 {partim). 



Description. — High scandent and robust. Leaf-sheaths 5-6 cm. 

 in diameter smooth. Leaves about 3 m. long in the pinniferous 

 part ; the cirrus 2 m. long, powerfully clawed ; petiole short, 

 smooth. Leaflets numerous, inequidistant, in pairs on each side 

 of the rhachis, 3-9-costulate, the lower ones ensiform, 40-50 cm. 

 long, 3-4 cm. broad, the others shorter and broader, lanceolate ; 

 the costaa smooth on both surfaces ; margins spinulous. Female 

 spadix strict ; partial inflorescences and spikelets not callous in their 

 axils; spikelets inserted inside the mouth of their spathe, 8-10 cm. 

 long, with 8-1 flowei'S on each side, zigzag sinuous between the 

 flowei-s. Fruiting perianth ventricose. Fruit ellipsoid, 27-29 mm. 

 long, 13-14 mm. broad. Scales in 18 series, deeply channelled. 

 Seed ovoid, sinuously grooved. 



Habitat. — Hot and damp valleys of the Sikkim Himalaya. 



51. CALAMUS UNIFARIUS, H. Wendl. in Bot. Zeitg. XVII (1859), 

 158; Miq. Fl. Ind. Bat. Ill, 749 et De Palmis 28; Becc. in Rec. Bot. 

 Surv. Ind. II, 212, Ann. Roy. Bot. Gard. Calc. XI, 114, AP^Q.—Calamvi^ 

 spp. No3. 9 et 14, Zoll. Syst. Verzeichn. 79. 



VAR. PENTONG, Becc. iu Hook. f. Fl. Brit. Ind. VI, 458, Rec. Bot. 

 Surv. Ind. II, 212, Ann. 114, 458. 



Vernacular Name. — Pentong (Nicobars). 



Description. — Scandent, robust. Leaf-sheaths 3-3^ cm. iu 

 diameter, armed with long acicular bulbous spines. Leaves large, 

 1*7 m. long in the pinniferous part. Leaflets not very numerous, 

 anbequidistant, 6-10 cm. apart, lanceolate, or lanceolate-ensiform, 



