— 
106 ANNALS OF THE ROYAL BOTANIC GARDEN, CALCUTTA. Korthalsia. 
‘ organs are also frequently found, but on a smaller scale, at the base of the ansae 
of the leaflets. 
As in Calamus some species of Korthalsia have a seed with homogeneous 
albumen (A. gracilis, K. Zippelii, K. macrocarpa), but more frequently the seed has 
a ruminate albumen (K. scaphigera, K. laciniosa, K. ferox, K. Tetjsmannit, K. 
Junghuhnit). . 
The leaves of Korthalsia vary greatly according to the age of the plant. The 
primordial leaves are entire, oblong or spathulate (K. rigida and K. flagellaris), or 
simply forked (K. scaphigera); those of plants that are just forming a stem are 
always terminated by a leaflet, simple or bipartite; only the leaves of the upper 
part of the adult plants are constantly cirriferous. I know of only one species 
(K. fureata) that appears to retain the primitive form of leaves into the adult 
stage, and has therefore non-cirriferous leaves only; but of that species 
the flowering plant is not known, and possibly the leaves of the upper part 
of the plant, nearing the stage of flowering, also follow the rule and become 
; cirriferous. 
GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION.— Korthalsía is pre-eminently a Malayan genus, having 
its centre, as regards number of species, in Borneo, the Malay Peninsula, and in 
Sumatra; it has however a few representatives in Java, in the smaller Sunda 
Islands, in the Andamans and in the Nicobars, in Indo-China, in the Philippines, 
in Celebes and in New Guinea. Borneo is the region’ richest in Korthalsia, 12 
species, of which 8 are endemic having been discovered there; then comes the 
Malay Peninsula with 8 species, 3 of which are endemie, and Sumatra with 7 
species, of which only K. robusta is not known as growing elsewhere, although 
closely related to the Bornean K. macrocarpa. 
At least 3 species grow in the Philippines,—K. scaphigeroides, K. squarrosa, and 
K. Merrillit, al evidently derived from Malayan species; in fact K. scaphigeroides 
only slightly differs from K. scaphigera; K. squarrosa is evidently related to K. 
robusta of Sumatra, and even more closely to K. macrocarpa, a palm growing in 
the marshy grounds of the littoral regions of South Borneo. K. Merrill appears 
to be related to a Korthalsta recently discovered (sterile) in Celebes, itself seemingly 
an ally of the Bornean K. feroz. 
H 
K. laciniosa is perhaps the most widely dispersed species, attaining at the 
same time the most northerly latitude, having been found near Salween in Tenas- 
wt serim; otherwise the genus is entirely absent from the true Indian Flora.  K. 
laciniosa is also a common plant in the Andamans and Nicobars and in the Mergui 
Archipelago, and probably it extends into lower Indo-China ; it is apparently a sea- 
coast palm, a circumstance to which we may attribute, perhaps, its relatively wide 
geographical distribution, and the presence of its very closely allied species K. 
ferox and K. Teysmannit in the neighbouring countries. 
