L. mollis] BECCARL MONOGRAPH OF THE GENUS CALAMUS. 913 
inflorescences flattened on the inner side, convex and strongly armed on the back 
with solitary or more or less aggregate claws; partial inflorescences not numerous, 
remote, inserted not very far inside the mouth of their own spathe and arising 
erect from this; the largest, the lowest, 20-30 cm. long, forming a rather dense 
compound panicle, which bears few branchlets or compound spikes in its lower 
portion and many simple spikelets in the upper part, the latter decreasing in 
length from the base towards the summit; the upper inflorescences gradually 
smaller, the extreme only 6-8 cm. in length, undivided, aud with 4-10 distichous 
spikelets on each side; secondary spathes very narrowly tubular-infundibuliform, 
obsoletely angular, gradually decreasing in length from the base to the top of the 
panicle, more or less obliquely truncate, deciduously ciliolate at the mouth and 
prolonged at one side into a short, triangular, subulately acuminate often withered 
point; {spikelets inserted at the mouth of their own spathe, callous at their upper 
axilla, the largest (the lowest of each branchlet) 2-3°5 cm long, with 10-15 up to 
20 flowers on each side, complanate, straight at first, arched or subscorpioid after 
the fall of the flowers; the uppermost not more than 1 cm. long; spathels very 
closely packed, bracteiform, concave, very broad, embracing the flowers, horizontal 
or slightly deflexed, striately veined externally, often ciliolate, acute or apiculate at 
one side; involucre included in its own spathel and laterally attached at the 
base of the one above, dimidiately cupular or like a swallow’s nest, truncate, 
deeply lunately emarginate and acutely two-keeled and bidentate on the side next 
to the axis. Male flowers perfectly bifarious, very crowded, the one in contact with 
the next, inserted at a rather open angle, ovate, small, 2°5-3 mm. long, obtuse or 
&ub-apieulate; the calyx sub-campanulate, faintly striately veined externally, divided 
down almost to the middle into three large acute lobes, with pale subscarious 
margins; the corolla twice as long as the calyx, divided down to its lower third 
part into three ovate, acute and externally polished segments; the filaments of the 
stamens rather stout and rigid, subulate with inflected apices when in the bud and 
united jby their bases info a fleshy body as long as the undivided part of the 
corolla; the anthers versatile, lanceolate and acute, their cells discrete at the base; 
the rudimentary ovary formed by three subulate rigid bodies united by their bases 
and inserted in the fleshy infundibuliform dise formed by the base of the anthers, 
Female spadiz simply decompound, flagelliform like the male, but perhaps smaller, 
about 70 cm. long, including a not very long aculeolate apical flagellum; lowest 
primary spathe tubular, somewhat flattened, acutely two-edged, very sparingly 
spinulous; the upper spathes cylindraceous, often split on the ventral side at the 
summit; partial inflorescences few, the lowest, the largest, 15-20 cm. long with a 
straight rigid axis, and with 8-9 distichous spikelets on each side; secondary 
spathes as in the male spadix; spikelets arched, patent or slightly deflexed, more 
or less distinctly callous in their upper axilla; the lowest, the largest, 2:5-4 cm. 
long, with 12-18 distichous very crowded flowers on each side; the upper ones 
gradually shorter and more approximate; spathels very closely packed, bracteiform, a 
little larger than but of the same shape as in the male spikelets; involucrophorum 
embraced by its own spthel and attached at the base of the one above, with a 
short concave unilaterally evolute limb; involucre concave, unilaterally evolute, sub- 
asuriculiform, obtuse; areola of the neuter flower nearly round, sharply defined by 
