USES AND NATIVE NAMES. 33. 
very well-known species, but, as it appears to me, in almost every instance misapplied 
In the * Report on the Progress and Condition of the Royal Gardens at Kew” for the 
year 1882, 37 species of Calamus are recorded as under cultivation at Kew. 
So far as I know the only species that have succeeded in producing flowers in 
Europe are C. ciliaris (Gard. Chron., Feb. 6, 1897, p. 86, fig. 23) and C. javensis 
of which last I have seen a specimen from a plant that flowered at Kew under 
the name of C. írinervis. At Kew also Daemonorops Jenkinsianus has reached a fair 
flowering state. | 
The plants of Ca/ami never have deep roots, and they acquire a luxuriant habit 
in the superficial layer of humus of the tropical forests, when this overlies a 
silieious sub-soil, because Calami, like almost all other kinds of Palms, avoid a 
calcareous sub-soil. : 
In cultivation Calami thrive best in a compost of equal parts of sandy loam and 
vegetable soil formed by decomposed leaves, They require a warm moist atmosphere 
and copious watering. I have however to observe that Calami grow in very different 
situations, from marshy plains at the level of the sea up to an elevation of 2,000 
metres in the mountains, so that in the cultivation of Calami, as in that of any other 
plant, it is necessary to know beforehand the natural conditions of their existence 
and to modify their. cultural conditions accordingly. If this be borne in mind, it may 
be found that probably not a few of the mountain species of Calamus, as for instance 
those of the Himalaya and Assam, will thrive better in the temperate than in a warm 
hot-house, while others should receive the treatment of aquatic plants in warm 
water, 
So far as my knowledge goes, no attempt has been made to cultivate any of 
the economic sorts of Calamus in their native countries or in countries with an analogous 
climate. Only C. khasianus appears to receive a primitive cultural attention in Assam 
for the sake of its fruits, which are eaten as a substitute for those of the Areca 
Palm, 
XXI— Uses of,* Trade in, and Native Names of Calamus. 
The long and slender stems or canes of Calami when divested of their sheaths 
‘are usually known by the Malay name of ‘“ Rotang,” commonly altered into 
“Rattan” or ‘Ratan,’ and are put to various uses according to their size, length, 
flexibility, elasticity and toughness. | 
The most slender canes are those produced by C. javensis and its varieties, 
and by allied species, They are employed entire for binding purposes, and in 
making chairs, blinds, mats, wicker- or basket-work, fishing implements, etc. 
The largest and more resistent canes, such as those of OC. rudentum, C. ornatus 
* As regards the Economie value and domestic employment of Calamus, besides the great works of Blumo 
(Rumphia) and Rumph (Herbarium. Amboinense), the following may be consulted; with, however, the caution that the 
names assigned by many authors to the economic species are not to be relied on:— 
J. Forbes Royle: The Fibrous Plants of India, p. 92. 
Brandis: Forest Flora of North-West and Central India, p. 558. 
Gamble; A Mannal of Indian Timbers, New edit. (1902), p. 734. 
.Hasskarl: Aantekeningen oer het nut, door de bewoners van Java, etc, p, 61, 
species of Java, 
De Mercado: Libro de Medicinas, in the Flora de Filipinas, Gran Edicion, vol. iv, p. 80, 
especially with reference to the 
Arn. Ror. Bor, Garp. Carcurra Vor. XI. 
