152 S. Kurz — A Sketch of the Vegetation of the Nicdbar Islands. [No. 3, 



markings of the scales. Fully ripe drupes present a very different appear- 

 ance from the figures given, the scales heing much exserted and developed 

 and of a straw-colour, and the appendages turning quite pale-coloured. — 

 Common in the tropical forests of Kamorta ; Karnicobar (Novara 41 — 42 ; 

 Jelinek — maatje, inc.). 



445. Calamus sp. — Hare in the tropical forests of Kamorta. 



It is a small species with green prickly sheaths and broad pinnse. 

 I possess only the female flowers and am therefore unwilling to describe 

 it as a new species. There are several other species of Calamus on these 

 islands, but they were out of flower or fruit. 



PANBANEM. 



446. Pandanus Leeam, Jones. — Common in the tropical and coral- 

 reef -forests of all the islands, delighting chiefly in and along jungle-marsh- 

 es ; ladong, inc. Katch. 



N. B. Habit and affinity of P. dulius, Spreng., but shorter stemmed 

 and more branched ; the stigmas are auricular- orbicular, as large as in P. 

 dubius, sessile, and somewhat waved on the margins. 



447. Pandantts odoeatissimus, L. f. — Frequent on the beaches 

 and in the beach-forests of Kamorta and Katchall ; on Kamorta it forms 

 a principal feature on the grass-heatbs. 



N. B. Junghuhn (Java. I. 2nd germ. ed. 109 sqq.) has already re- 

 marked upon and illustrated the great variability in habit of the screw- 

 pines. The form which grows along the beaches forms arboreous ascending 

 shrubs, much branched and sending down quite a labyrinth of straight 

 aerial roots ; but the one which grows on the heaths is entirely different, 

 being a small tree from 20 to 25 feet in height with a stout grey simple 

 stem, which sends down short and thick aerial roots from the lowermost 

 part only, while the crown is small, sparingly and shortly branched, and very 

 dense. There are, besides, two varieties of these trees on the heaths, the 

 one having the stigmas normal as in the littoral form and the drupes connate 

 high up so as to effect a tesselated appearance, while the other variety has the 

 drupes free for about one-fourth of their length from the top terminating in 

 short erect points, on the inner face of which the linear-lanceolate stigmas 

 are situated. The foliage in the one is darker green, but the male 

 flowers of both varieties are exactly the same. Dr. Hance (in Trfm. Journ. 

 Bot. 1875, 68.) has remarked upon the variability of the stigmas in screw- 

 pines, but overlooked that I had myself pointed out this fact (Journ. 

 Bot. 1867. 99.) with the qualification that they vary without therefore 

 giving up their essential value. The stigmas ought to be described from the 

 ovaries or the young drupes but it is difficult to collect such ; it is usually 

 only after the synearps have attained some size that they catch the eye. 



