92 ANNALS OF THE ROYAL BOTANIC GARDEN, CALCUTTA. (D. microthamnus. 
28. DAEMONOROPS MICROTHAMNUS Bece. in Kec. Bot. Surv. Ind. ii, 221; Ridley Mat. 
Fl. Mal. Penin. ii, 175, 
Description.—Erect, very small. Sheathed stem 1 cm. in diameter. Leaf-sheaths of 
the upper part of the plant not gibbous above and only slightly swollen at the base 
of the petiole, more or less distinctly longitudinally striate and costulate, the surface 
rusty furfuraceous-subtomentose, sparingly armed with very weak, small, laminar or 
sub-bristly scattered spines; the mouth spineless. Ocrea very short, exactly horizontally 
truncate. Radical leaves . . . . Leaves of the upper and fertile part of the plant very 
small, shortly cirriferous, 10-15 cm. long in the pinniferous part; the petiole 
spineless, very short, 1-2 cm. long, flattened, plano-convex, with very acute margins; 
rachis armed beneath along the centre of the dorsum with solitary, straight, slightly 
deflexed priekles and showing an acute salient angle and flat side-faces above; leaflets 
rather numerous, 22-25 on each side, equidistant, closely set, very small, linear, 4-5 
em. long, 2-3 mm. broad, slightly narrowing to the base and gradually acuminate to a 
finely subulate and bristly tip; on the upper surface the mid-costa alone bearing a few 
comparatively large bristles near the apex; on the lower surface quite smooth or with 
very few small bristles along the mid-costa; margins with very few cilia near the apex, 
otherwise smooth. Spadices crowded at the summit of the plant, before flowering 
ventricose-fusiform, rather shortly beaked, 10-12 cm. long, inserted near the mouth of 
their sheaths, erect, supported on a short, slender, smooth, pedicellar part; outermost 
spathe obsoletely two-keeled, more or less covered with a very dark or tobaeco-coloured 
acurfy pubescence, rather suddenly narrowing into & beak, which is only the third or 
fourth part of the length of the body, sparingly armed with very fime, weak, scattered, 
bristle like, spreading or deflexed spines; all the other spathes unarmed. Female spadiz 
with very few (3-4), very small, slightly rusty-furfuraceous partial inflorescences, each of 
which is composed of only 2-3 very depauperate and few-flowered spikelets; secondary 
spathes bracteiform, very acuminate ; spathels bracteiform, broadly triangular, acute or 
acuminate at one side, about as long as or longer than the involucrophorum; the latter 
gub-obconical, short and thick, broadened at the summit into an asymmetrical subcupular 
limb, acute or acuminate at one side, its tip exceeding the rim of the involucre which 
is cupular, usually slightly produced and acute on the side of the neuter flower; areola 
of the latter very distinct, concave, suborbicular with a more or less semicircular border 
Female flowers ovoid-oblong, 5 mm. long, 3 mm, thick; the calyx cylindraceous, 
superficially 3-denticulate; the corolla less than twice as long as the calyx, its 
segments elongate, triangular, acute. rusting perianth explanate. Fruit small, globular, 
shortly gradually conically and acutely beaked, 12 mm. in diam.; scales in 15 
longitudinal series, broadly and not deeply channelled along the centre, rather dull, 
with polished \apex, tawny, with a rather broad discoloured margin and a faint and 
narrow intramarginal line; the apex regularly triangular, acute or somewhat blunt. 
Seed globular. 
Hasrrat.—The Malayan Peninsula, where collected in the district of Perak by Father 
Scortechins, | 
OssERvATIONS,— This is the smallest of all known Daemonorops, but probably it is 
nothing more than a diminutive form of D, petiolaris. The latter however is known 
from male plants, and D. microthamnus from female ones. The much less spinous outer 
