THE STEM. 7 
are attached are very far apart and consequently the internods are very long and 
sheathed by the basal tubular part of the leaves. 
In a very few species the stem is erect ; in this case it never attains a great 
height. In C. arborescens, which is I believe the largest known erect Species, the 
stem reaches a height of 5-6 metres, and, when divested of its leaves, & diameter 
of, at most, 6 cm. The stem of C. bacularis, another non-climbing species, is 
about the size of a common walking cane. 
The species of Calamus, which possess erect stems, appear to be of less rapid 
growth than the climbing ones, as their joints are rather short. I know only one 
=- Species which is almost stemless; this is C. pygmaeus the small Bornean Palm . 
already alluded to, certainly the most diminutive species of the whole genus, 
C. Lobbianus appears also to be an almost stemless plant. ©. tonkinensis and C. 
salicifolius are bushy species with rather short slender recumbent stems. €. acantho- 
spathus appears to be at first erect, but ultimately subscandent, never however attain- 
ing a great length. The stem, in climbing species, with the sheaths on, varies from 
4-5 mm. in diameter in some varieties of C. javensis and in C. filiformis, to 10 em, 
in C. andamanicus; when divested of the sheaths, the range is from 2-3 mm. up to 
4 cm. The length of the internodes is usually great and attains the extraordinary 
length of 90 cm. in €. Scipionum. 
The total length of the stems of Calami has been greatly exaggerated. Roxburgh 
(Flora Indica, Vol. III, page 777) assigns to his OC. ezíensus a length of from two 
to three hundred yards, but I think that even if feet instead of yards be meant, 
this length is still excessive. Loureiro, too, gives to his C. rudentum the extremely 
unlikely length of 500 feet. With regard to this subject I have to say that I 
never measured a Calamus at all approaching these dimensions, and that all those 
observed by me were certainly under 50 metres (about 150 feet). As Calamt 
are climbing plants, the entire length of their stems may be approximately 
estimated by the height of the trees which support them; often, however, the lower 
part of their stems is procumbent creeping long distances on the soil of the forest, so 
that a Calamus plant may be considerably longer than the height of the tree from 
which it is suspended. This is brought about by the fact that the leafy crown of 
a palm of this kind is, on account of its being too slender, unable to maintain itself 
freely above the aérial plane of the forest and as new leaves and spadices or flagella 
are successively produced, those which preceded them and are situated lower down 
the stem gradually decay or lose their hold and do not succeed in retaining the 
plant in position by their hooked spines. Thus it happens that while the top of the 
palm strives to rise above and even to spread its fronds over the crowns of the 
loftiest trees, it has on account of its weight a contrary tendency to find a lower 
level. As the result of these two opposing agencies, the crown of the plant remains 
constantly at about the same aérial level, while the lower portion of the naked stem 
creeps for a considerable distance on the ground below, 
: The internodes of the stems of the Calami are sometimes exactly cyl- 
indric, but not infrequently are slightly enlarged upwards; those of the higher 
or adult part of the plant usually have a slightly raised longitudinal swelling or 
we 
