728 



III, — Palisot cle Beauv, FL Oware, Benin, i. tt. 9-10 [Calamvs 

 secimdiflorus) ; Trans. Linn. Soc. xxiv. 1864, t. 38, f. D; t. 41, 



1 G; 



ndifl 



Vernac, names, — Okakan, Ikan (S. Nigeria, Dennett, Dunslan), 



Old Calabar, Benin, Niger Delta, Cameroons, also in Sierra 

 Leone, Angola, French Congo and Congo Free State. 



Stems used for binding together the materials of which tlie 

 huts are constructed, West Africa; fish traps are made of the 

 stem, Degema, New Calabar (Holland, Mus. Kew, 1899); the 

 Bafan people also make large cylindrical baskets of this in which 

 to carry the rubber manufactured by them, and the same people 

 take large quantities of this palm with them as food when they 

 go into the hills of the Sierra del Crystal to procure the rubber. 

 For this purpose they choose the extremities of the stem, cutting 

 off the leaves to make the bundles more portable, and when 

 required for use they simply roast the whole in the fire and then 

 eat the soft central part, which is, however, ratlier bitter and 

 tough for persons not accustomed to such primitive fare (Mann 

 & Wendland, Trans. Linn. Soc. xxiv. 1864, p. 425). 



A climbing palm, 80-100 ft. mouth of the Niger (Mann, 

 No, 453, Herb. Kew); stem 100 ft. high, 1 in. in diam., climbmg 

 on lofty trees by its hooked petioles, bearing large clusters of 

 very beautiful red fruits (Barter, No. 61, Herb. Kew). 



The following references refer to the cHmbing palms in general. 



*' Rattan " is the name given to more than 100 species of the 

 genus Calamus, natives of intertropical Asia and Africa (Kew 

 Bull, 1899, p. 200). Calamus Botang, Linn., of India and Ce^don 

 and C. scipionurn, Lour, the " Malacca Cane," a native of Siak, 

 (Kew Bull. 1892, p. 46) are important trade sources of cane. 



Ref 



Kew Bull. 1899, pp 



200-201. " Rattans," in Agric. Bull. Straits & Fed. Malay 



States, ii. April 1903, pp. 129-136; May 1903, pp. 157-lGO. 



" Notes on the Collection of Rattans in the Straits Settlements 



Court," Bull. Imp. Inst. i. 1903, pp. 153-154. "Calamus" 



Beccari, in Annals, Bot. Garden, Calcutta, xi. 1908, pp. 1-518 

 illustrated. " The Rattans or Rotangs " Hemsley, in Gar- 

 deners' Chronicle, xlvi. Aug. 7th, 1909, pp. 87-88. ^"Rattans 



or Rotangs," Agric. Xews, Barbados, xi. June 22nd 1912 

 pp. 202-203. 



BoRASsr8, Linn. 



Borassus flabellifer, Linn, var. aethiopum, Warh • Fl Tron 



Afr. VIII. p. 117. " ' ^' 



_ /Z/.— Rheede, Hort. Mai. i. t. 9 (" Carimpana "—arbcr foe- 

 mina); t. 10 ( " Ampara "—a/6or mascula); Rumpf, Amb i 

 t. 10; Lam. Encycl. t. 898; Roxb. PL Corom. i. t. 71, t 72 

 (spadices); Martius, Palm, tt, 108, 121 (spadices) t. 162 (habit)- 

 Engler, Veget. Deut. Ost. Afr. tt. 9-10 (var.) ; Engler, Pflan. Ost! 



Afr. B. p. 21 (var.); Johnston, Uganda, 1. pp. 134, 101 (var.) • 

 Karsten & Schenck, Veg. bild. iv. t. 12 (Borassus-Hain in der 



