e. zonatus | BECCARL MONOGRAPH OF THE GENUS CALAMUS. 173 
97. CALAMUS ZoNATUS Becc., Nelle Foreste di Borneo 609, and in Rec. Bot. 
Surv. Ind. ii, 203. i 
DescripTion.—Very slender, scandent. Sheathed stem T-8 mm. in diam. Leaf- 
sheaths flagelliferous, gibbous above, striate longitudinally, conspicuously ornamented 
with approximate, sinuous, unequal, sometimes interrupted, annular ribs or prominent 
wrinkles which are scabrid on their crests or sometimes furnished with pungent 
warts or rudimentary spinules, ZLeaf-sheath flagella very long, slender and very 
finely clawed. Leaves delicate, not cirriferous, 50-70 cm. in length; petiole short, 
2-5 cm. long, flattish or slightly channelled above, rounded beneath where rather 
strongly aculeate along the middle and at the sides; rachis glabrous, acutely bifaced 
above, finely irregularly clawed throughout beneath; leaflets not many, 10-12 on 
each side, inequidistant, scattered, not distinctly grouped or fascicled, elongate-linear, 
the largest (those a little above the base) 20-28 cm. long, 10-12 mm. broad, all 
almost equally attenuate at both ends, acute at the base, gradually acuminate at the 
apex into a subulate bristly tip, thinly papyraceous, rather rigid, of the same colour 
and sub-shining on both surfaces, distinctly 3-costulate, the mid-costa sparingly bristly 
above; all nerves naked beneath; margins smooth, only the apex ciliate; tranverse 
veinlets fine, much interrupted; the two terminal leaflets smaller than the others, 
more or less shortly connate at the base. Male spadiz partially ultra-decompound, 
elongate, filiform, flagelliform, with few remote, very delicate partial inflorescences ; 
primary spathes very narrow and long, very closely sheathing, the lowest sligh’ly 
flattened, obliquely truncate and entire at the mouth, almost unarmed; the upper 
ones cylindraceous, extremely narrow, aculeolate mainly in their upper part; un- 
sheathed axial portions of the spadix between two partial inflorescences very slender, 
clawed on the outer side; partial inflorescences 20-40 em, long, inserted above the 
mouth of their own spathe, divaricate, with a conspicuous axillary callus; the 
lowest inflorescedces (the largest) decompound, with 1-3 branches on each side near 
the base and 5-6 simple spikelets (also on each side) in the upper part; secondary 
spathes very narrow, very closely sheathing, slightly clavate, scabridulous, obliquely 
truncate at the mouth, acute at one side, the lowest 4-5 cm. long, the upper ones 
gradually shorter, the uppermost 15-20 mm, long; spikelets 3-6 cm, long, very 
slender and delicate, filiform, straight, horizontal, attached above the mouth of their 
own spathe with a distinct axillary callus and bearing 18-20 horizontally inserted 
flowers on each side; spathels tubular-cylindraceous at the base, suddenly expanded 
into a short, infundibuliform, truncate, scabrid limb; involucre completely exserted 
from its own spathel and laterally attached to the base of the one above, subdiscoid 
or shortly cupular, with a short, obsoletely bidentate, strongly striately veined 
Timb,—Other parts unknown. 
HanrraT.— Borneo ; Mt, Mattang, near Kuching in Sarawak (Beccari P. B. 
No. 1921.)— specimen gathered by Lobb, probably also in Sarawak (Herb, Calc.), 
bears a male spadix, but all the flowers have fallen. 
This species produces a very slender Rotang of great toughness, used by the 
Malays of Sarawak for fastening the iron blade of their axes to the handle, 
whence its name of ‘ Rotang perdas’ (perdas=the handle of the Malaysn axe). 
