288 PALMA. { Poa@ntrx. 
Bombay Presidency. The leaves are made into matting, and the 
ier is eaten; also a kind of sago is sometimes obtained from the 
pith. 
3. P. humilis, Royle Ill. 394, 397, 399; F. B. I. vi, 426 ; Brandis 
For, Fl. 555; Ind. Trees 645 ; Gamble Man. 731; Kanjilél For. 
Fl. (ed. 2) 412.—Vern. Khajur; Chota Khajur (Bijnor); 
Thakil (Kumaon). 
Stem slender, sometimes short or up to 10 or 12 ft. high. Leaves 3-8 ft. 
long; rhachis laterally compressed ; leaflets 12-18 in. long, thin, 
smooth, faintly nerved, always folded, generally scattered, some- 
times in opposite pairs; base only slightly raised on the side of the 
rhachis or not at all. Male spadix 1 ft. long; female a little shorter 
(excluding peduncle) ; spikes often paniculately subdivided ; 
peduncles flat, of the fruiting spadix 2-2} ft. long and 4-3 in. broad. 
Fruit almost horizontal, }-2 long, ovoid, usually mucronate, red 
when ripe. 
Abundant on the Siwalik range within the Saharanpur district, 
especially near the crest, and in the vicinity of the Rampur bun- 
galow, where the stems of some of the trees rise to 10 or 12 ft. high. 
It is also mentioned by Stewart as occurring in the forests. of the 
Bijnor district. The trees are in flower during Dec. and Jan., and 
the fruit ripens April-June. D1strrs.: Common in the chir forests 
of the outer Himalayan ranges of Garhwal and Kumaon, up to 
5,000 ft., and eastwards to Assam and the Khasia Hills. It is said 
aiso to occur in Cent. India. Economic uses as of P. acaulis. 
2. CALAMUS, Linn.; Fl. Brit. Ind. vi, 436. 
Armed, erect or scandent, tufted palms. Leaves alternate 
pinnatisect ; segments acuminate, nerves parallel, rhachis often 
produced as an armed flagellum; sheath armed, produced into 
a ligule or ochrea, with or without a lateral armed flagellum. 
Flowers polygamo-diecious, in usually distichous often scorpioid 
spikelets, solitary (either male or fem. or both) in the axils of the 
bracteoles of axillary usually much-elongated and much-branched 
spadices which are sometimes produced as a flagellum; spathes 
tubular or open, persistent, sheathing the peduncle and branches 
of the spadix and passing into bracts and bracteoles. Matz 
flowers: Calyx cupular, 3-toothed. Petals 3, acute, coriaceous. 
valvate. Stamens 6, filaments short, anthers dorsifixed. Frm, 
