494 ANNALS OF THE ROYAL BOTANIC GARDEN , CALCUTTA. [C. erioacanthus.. 
Very distinct by its scabrid sheaths and spathes, the epetiolate leaves and the small 
circinnate-scorpioid spikelets. 
PLATE 186.—Calamus asperrimus Bi. The summit of a plant with a cirriferous 
leaf; a non-cirriferous leaf with its sheath from the lower part of the same plant; the 
ummit of a male spadix,—From a specimen cultivated at Buitenzorg in Herb. Becc. 
157. CALAMUS ERIOACANTHUS Becc. Nelle Foreste di Borneo, 610 and in Rec. 
Bot. Surv. Ind. ii, 213. 
Description.—Slender, scandent.  Sheathed stem 7-12 mm. in diam. Leaf-sheaths 
gibbous above, rusty-furfuraceous, at first rather densely covered with rather short and 
broad spines, of which the largest about 1 cm. long, slightly deflexed, broad, light- 
coloured and convex above and concave beneath at their base, their point greenish and 
copiously fringed-furfuraceous at the margins; further the sbeaths are more or less 
marked with small transverse interrupted raised ridges, which are also more or less 
fringed on their crest, Ocrea very elongate, fibrous-retiform, in one specimen 13 em. 
long, ultimately quite deciduous.  Leaf-sheath flagella very rudimentary, 3-5°5 cm. 
long, very slender. Leaves cirriferous, 40-70 cm. long in the pinniferous part; the 
cirrus about as long as the pinniferous part in the leaves of the upper part of the 
plant, slender, closely but rather irregularly armed with solitary or more or less 
ageregate not very large claws; petiole rather short, 6-14 cm. long, slightly channelled 
or flattish above, acute and smooth at the margins, rounded beneath, where very 
sparingly and sparsely prickly; rachis irregularly armed beneath with solitary, small, 
scattered claws, which become more or less aggregate only near the base of the cirrus, 
acutely bifaced and smooth above; leaflets very few, 13-14 in all, very inequidistant, 
ped in 4 remote fascicles; usually approximate in pairs on each side, the pairs 
opposite, thinly papyraceous, rather firm, 18-25 cm. long, 2:5-5 cm. broad, the 
intermediate ones slightly the largest, green and subconcolorous on both surfaces, 
shining above, opaque beneath, lanceolate or oblanceolate, almost flat or very slightly 
concavo-convex, usually broadest above the middle, suddenly contracted near the 
summit into a short acuminate bristly tip, gradually narrowed towards the base, 
rather acutely 3-costulate and with other slender but rather distinct secondary nerves 
interposed; the mid-costa not stronger than side ones; all nerves smooth on both 
surfaces; transverse veinlets fine and rather approximate; margins quite smooth. 
Hasirat.—Borneo in Sarawak on Mt. Mattang (Beccari P. B. Nos. 1919 and 
1934). Malay name in Sarawak "'Rotang Baroh." 
Oxservations.—I have collected two sterile specimens of this, which seems related 
to C. optimus. One of the specimens, No. 1934, is more robust than the other, its. 
sheathed stem is 12 mm. in diam, and the largest of its leaflets are 25 cm. long 
and 5 cm. broad; in the other the leaf-sheaths are 7 mm. in diam. and the largest 
leaflets 18 cm. long, 3 cm. broad. bo ; 
This also keeps its green colour in herbarium specimens, 
