136 BURMA, ITS PEOPLE AXD PRODUCTIOSS. 



A large noble gnrap, -which yields wine, oil, "wax, sago, flour, dragon' s-Lloorl, 

 sugar, fibre, utensils, weapons, food, and habitations. The cocoa, date, betel-nut, 

 palmyra, rattan, etc., are well known. Kurz remarks : " The size ol' the palms is 

 often enough variable and, amongst the many examples, I shall mention only Plianix 

 pidudosa, the stem of which varies in height from only 2 to 3 feet up to 15 to 25 feet. 

 Sobolifieation is a character of little value in my eyes. I look upon it rather as an 

 idiosyncrasy, and, tlierefore, not even as a sufficient character on wliich to establish 

 a variety. No doubt in very many species this character has become general and 

 constant, but atavisms are not unfi-equent. We know, for example, cases in which the 

 common betel-nut palm has made as many as 7 shoots, and similar examples are not 

 wanting (especially in Phienix, Cocos, Arenga, Euterpe). Areca triniidrii has simple and 

 soboliferous trunks with all intermetliate states, and I have, therefore, unhesitatingly 

 connected with it A. laxa, a species that differs in no structural points. Canjota 

 sohoUfera is another example wherein simple-stemmed and soboliferous plants may 

 occasionally be found in the Burmese jungles not a dozen yards from one another. 

 Species based upon such distinctions, if not also accompanied by structural differences, 

 are in my opinion untenable, and gi'ouping palm-species after such a character is 

 simply misleading. 



■'Again, the armature in Calamus would appear to me to be also subject to 

 variation within certain limits. It certainly is often very different, according to the 

 age of the rattan itself, or accordingly as the sheaths come from the lower or upper 

 parts of the plant. On the other hand, the Calami (including Bamonorops) 

 offer so many valuable characters in their spathes and spathules, nature of seeds, 

 lorie, and flagellar, and, finally, in the scales and stamens, that we may confidently 

 look forward to a sound ancl natural classification of the rattans so soon as the 

 numerous book-species, often based upon incomplete pieces only, shall have been got 

 rid of. The ditt'erence in the scales of the fruits of Calamus in different stages 

 of growth is so far as possible illustrated in the present paper. The indument of the 

 inflorescences and their spathes seems to afi'ord valuable characters, especially to 

 herbarium-botanists. The colour, however, of the same varies greatly in the same 

 species, as for example in A. gracilis, in which some individuals have yellowish- 

 white and bright scarlet spailices, while others have them greenish-purple. 



" Burmese palms are still very incompletely known, especially the rattans. 

 While the distributional area of the leiocarpous palms is greater than one might 

 have expected, that of the rattans is singularly restricted and limited. Thus I 

 have been unable, in spite of all the pains I have taken, to identify several of 

 my Burmese rattans with any of the 100 species or thereabouts already published. 

 Only the more light-loving species, such as C. Guruba, fasciculatus, etc., have 

 a wider distribution." 



Suh-fumihi CAL.^ilEJi:. 

 "" Fruit covered with refrorseli/ imlricate scales or bristles. Seeds often ariUate. 

 Usually armed climbers, rarehj erect or unarmed. 



f Flowers spirally arranged, forming a dense cylindrical spike. 



Zalacca, Itumjjliius. 

 Erect palms, stemless or nearly so. Albumen homogeneoiis. Male flowers solitary 

 or paired, bracteated within the small spathaceous-connate spathules, and inclosed by 

 2 boat shaped connate bracts. Ftmalejluwers solitary within the small spathule and 

 enclosed within 2 ovular bractlets. Calyx in both sexes trifid. Drupe almost 

 1 -celled, tlu'ough thinning of the cell-walls, I to 3-seeded. Seeds with a dense fleshy 

 arillus. 



Z. Wallichiana, Mart. Tree forests all over Pegu and Tenasserim. 



Z. edulis, Reinw. (apiud Mason). 



Ten-gan-khyo, or Khyen. 



The fruit is eaten by natives according to Dr. Mason, who further remarks: " The 

 Selungs of the Mergui Archipelago shoot over their waters with remarkably light 



