62 ANNALS OF THE ROYAL BOTANIC GARDEN, CALCUTTA, [C. tomentosus. 
robust claws and covered with a thin greyish tomentum; rachis also more or less 
thinly tomentose-furfuraceous, very sparingly clawed on the under surface, the 
salient angle above acute towards the upper end; leaflets 14-17 em. long, 45-5 em. 
broad, 5-7-costulate, dull on both surfaces, paler underneath, produced at the apex 
into an acuminate tail-like bristly-ciliate tip; the margins bear also on their upper 
third part rigid cilia that are deciduous in older leaflets, This specimen is very 
similar to €. tomentosus var. korthalsiefolius in the size and form of the leaflets, 
but the petiole is very elongate and grooved on its upper surface, a character 
probably depending upon the youth of the plant from which the specimen was 
gathered. 1 advance the opinion that the true home of C. rhombotdeus may be not 
Java (where it has not been” found by any of the modern collectors), but Borneo. 
C. rhomboideus, C. tomentosus and C. Biumei are three closely related, but apparently 
distinct species, €. tomentosus of the Malayan Peninsula has fruits considerably smaller 
than those of the other two. ©. rhomboideus has larger ovoid fruits; C. Blumei has 
also large fruits but nearly spherical. 
SuePL. Pirate 31.—C3lamus rhomboideus B7. The entire specimen described above, 
in the Kew Herbarium. 
113. CALAMUS TOMENTOSUS Becc. Add:—@€. rhomboideus (non Bl.?) Ridley, Mat. 
Fl. Mai. Penins. iji, 194. 
. Descrtption.—Ridley has referred C. tomentosus Becc. to C. rhomboideus Bl., but 
as I have stated (p, 339 of this volume) the reasons that induced me to consider the 
Malacca plant different from the Javan, and as no new material of the latter 
has been added to that already known, the specific identity of the two, although 
possible, as I have already supposed, remains still uncertain. I have seen a specimen 
Of €. tcmentosus in fruit, which as to the leaves approaches more to the varieties 
korthalsiaefolius and intermedius than to the typical form. I am moreover uncertain 
if these varieties represent vegetative and non-permanent variations, or if they 
are hereditary forms or sub-species of C. tomentosus. 
zi The specimen mentioned above was sent to the Herbarium of the British 
Museum by Mr. Ridley, and was collected at “Sungei Ujong” (probably by 
Cantley's collector); almost certainly it is a specimen of this same gathering that 
Mr. Ridley has used for the description of the fruit of OC. rhomboideus in his 
** Materials." 
The specimen consists of the terminal portion of a leaf and of a partial inflores- 
‘cence with mature fruits. The leaf is very much like that of C. Blumet, reproduced 
in plate 137; the leaflets however are not slightly asymmetrical at their bases, 
The leaf-rachis is very minutely scabrid, and is armed with scattered or geminate 
claws; the leaflets are regularly rhomboid, apiculate, 17-19 cm. long, 7-9 cm. broad, 
shortly ansate, symmetric, and with a distinct axillary callus at the base, 5-sub 
7-costulate; the margins and the apex are quite glabrous (perhaps the cilia are 
deciduous), The partial inflorescence is 30 cm. long and has 5 recurved spikelets 
on each side, inserted just above the mouth of their spathes; the lower spikelets are 
