DESCRIPTION OF SPECIES 205 
out and molded. This is usually done either in coconut shells 
or small square boxes made from buri leaves. Gibbs reports 
that sugar of excellent quality, polarizing at 94° to 98°, has been 
produced in the laboratory of the Bureau of Science by boiling 
the sap, preserved with lime, in open pans. Although the sap 
contains a high percentage of sugar and the yield per tree is 
considerable, Gibbs was not of the opinion that buri sap alone 
could be successfully employed as a commercial source of sugar. 
He says, however, that when a large stand of buri occurs in 
the proximity of a sugar mill it seems entirely feasible to use 
the sap in connection with sugar-cane juice. 
Filipinos make starch from the trunk of the buri. The entire 
pithy portion of the trunk is cut into strips, dried, and then 
pounded to separate the starch from the fiber. The fine dust 
thus obtained is washed in cold water; the starch settles out 
in the usual way, and is dried. Bacon * obtained a yield of 
6 per cent of starch, and on this basis he calculated that from 
an averaged-sized tree about a hundred kilos of starch could 
be obtained. The starch is in large grains. According to Ba- 
con, it does not wash white, but always has a decidedly red hue. 
In view of this fact and of the difficulty in extracting it, he 
did not think that the buri palm could be utilized commercially 
for starch. 
Genus DAEMONOROPS Blume (Plate XXIX). 
The species of Daemonorops, like those of Calamus, are 
slender, climbing palms (rattans) having the same sylvan hab- 
itat, growth-form, general adaptations for climbing, and uses. 
As a rule, however, the rattan yielded by Daemonorops is de- 
cidedly inferior to that of Calamus. Daemonorops has by some 
authors been reduced to Calamus, and there is no single char- 
acter that will always distinguish the two genera. However, 
they can usually be separated by the following characters: In 
Daemonorops the leaf sheaths never produce long whip-like 
structures; in Calamus they often do. In the former the ocrea 
is very short, in the latter often greatly developed; in the for- 
mer the upper leaves are always supplied with a whip-like 
structure, in the latter the flagellum may or may not be present. 
In Daemonorops the spathes are never armed with claws and 
the panicle is short, while in Calamus the lower parts of the 
spathes are so armed and the spadices are usually greatly 
elongated. 

* Gibbs, H. D., The alcohol industry of the Philippine Islands. Part I. 
Philippine Journal of Science, Section A, Volume 6 (1911), pages-99 to 206. 
