22 The Palms of British East India. 



shape, and having the umbilicus situated laterally a little above the 

 base of the fruit. The progress of the fruit to maturity is very slow, 

 and is said, according to the best information I can obtain, to occupy 

 about three years from the first appearing of the spadices to the final 

 ripening of the fruit. During the period of inflorescence, the branches 

 of the spadix are brown, and apparently quite bare. Afterwards a 

 number of small green knobs appear above the brown scales, which 

 go on enlarging, till they at length acquire the size of a small apple. 

 But few fruit come to maturity on each branch. 



In habit and character this tree recedes considerable from the true 

 Palmce. Its propagation by radical shoots, exactly in the same 

 manner as the common cultivated Plantain, is peculiar, and is not 

 observed in the true Palms. The terminal inflorescence and death 

 of the tree after fructification is another peculiarity. It is allied to 

 Calamus by its retroversely imbricated fruit. 



This species of Sago is abundant in many parts of Sumatra and at 

 Malacca, and is employed in the preparation of Sago for food. Con- 

 siderable quantities are made at the Poggy Islands, lying off the west 

 coast of Sumatra, where it in fact forms the principal food of the 

 inhabitants. The Sago of Siak is remarkably fine, and is also, I 

 believe, the produce of this species. At the Moluccas the spinous 

 sort is considered superior to this, but I am doubtful whether it 

 exists in Sumatra. For making the Sago, the tree must be cut be- 

 fore fructification commences, as it then becomes hard and dry. 

 The process of making it has been so often described, that it is need- 

 less to repeat it here." — W. Jack. loc. cit. 



CALAMOSAGUS. 



Char. Gen. — Spicce teretes, amentiformes. Flores her- 

 maphroditi, solitarii, villis semi-immersi. Stamina 6. Ovarium 

 squamis obtectum, triloculare. Stylus subulatus, tridentatus. 

 Fructus exsuccus, squamis loricatus. Semen vertice excava- 

 tum. Albumen ruminatum. Embryo vagus. 



Palmse scandentes t perennes, incolce Peninsulce Malayans. 

 Folia pinnata; vaginae petiolique aculeis conicis rectis ar- 

 mati : ligula maxima, pari modo aculeata, sursum ventricoso- 



