126 ANNALS OF THE ROYAL BOTANIC GARDEN, CALCUTTA, (C. erectus. 
the flowers more immersed in the involucres, the calyx half-projecting from the 
involueres and strongly veined, the corolla twice as long as the calyx. Fruit as in 
the type. 
Hasitat.—India: Sikkim in Upper Camon and Lower Singbik and Rhu (Hooker 
f. & Thomson in Herb. Kew); at Currssiong (Kurseong) 1,400 m. elev. (T. 
Anderson in Herb. Boiss.); Sivoke on the Teesta, 1,000 m. elev. (Brandis in Herb. 
Bece.); hills near Sivoke, 
Gamble (l. c.) writes that this has a stem about 5 cem. in diam. with hard 
wood and closely packed fibrovsseular bundles, very close, as usual, towards the edge; 
the canes, however, are useless (Gamble Mss.) It is called “Rong” and ‘ Reem” 
by the Lepchas, but it is known also in Sikkim by the name of *Phekri Bet," but 
probably these names are also applied to the typical form. 
Oxservations.—I had considered C. schizospathus quite the sanie as €. erectus (Becc: 
in Hook. f. Fl. Brit. Ind. l. e.) following Hooker and Thomson who on the labels 
of the distributed specimens of the Herb. Ind. Orient., had already united the two 
species. Nevertheless T. Anderson (Journ. Linn, Soc, xi, p. 8) considers C. schizospathus ` 
as a species distinct from C. erectus, and writes as follows: “@. erectus of 
Roxburgh from Silhet and perhaps from Chittagong is a nearly allied species; but 
its ripe fruits are nearly half as large again as those of C. schizospathus,” which is 
found on the steep northern slopes of the valleys of the rivers Teesta and Rungeet, 
where micaceous slate abounds. 
A good specimen of C. erectus schizospathus from Sikkim sent to me in September 
1902 by Lieut.-Col, Prain has ripe fruits 32 mm. long and 20 mm. iu diam., and 
consequently not smaller than those of the type with which they perfectly agree also 
in shape and all other characteristics, in the leaflets of this specimen I have not been 
able to find any difference from those of the typical C. erectus from Khasia; the 
sheathed stem 7 cm. in diam. and the naked canes 4'5 cm. In the male specimens. 
from Sikkim I had at my disposal, the spikelets are larger than in the specimens 
coming from Khasia and Sylhet, and have more broadly infundibuliform and more 
distinctly striate spathels, the flowers are more deeply enclosed in the involucres 
more ovoid or less elongate, and with the corolla relatively shorter and the ane 
more distinctly striate. I consider C. erectus schizospathus to be only a local form of 
C. erectus, peculiar to the hot and damp sub-Himalayan region in Sikkim and 
Darjeeling, while the type abounds more to the east, mainly in Assam, Sylhet, 
Khasia, Manipur, ete. 
Prate 2.—Calamus erectus Roxb, var. schizospathus Bece. Portions of a leaf from 
an adult plant, and partial inflorescence of the lower part of a male spadix, from. 
a specimen collected by Dr. Brandis at Sivoke (1000 m.) on the Teesta. 
CALAMUS ERECTUS Roxb. var. srrmanicus Bece. in Rec. Bot. Surv. Ind. li,. 
197. / 
Descrivtiuy.—Female spadix more slender than in the type and produced into a. 
rather long (75 em.) flagelliform aculeate appendix; also the fruit smaller (20-30 mm. 
by 14-16 mm.). 
Hanrzar.— Burma: on the Karen mountains at an elevation of 1000-1200 m., 
collected by Sig, L. Fea in Dec. 1887. : 
