74 The Palms of British East India. 



venis S setigeris, spadice nutante vel pendulo decomposito 

 infra spathas spinis subulatis armato, spathis coriaceis in- 

 fima spathiformi secus carinas duas armata reliquis planis 

 inermibus, spicis ascendenti-convergentibus, floribus ob- 

 longis. 



Hab. — Malacca. Rotang Chinchin of the Malays* 



Descr.* — Scandent ; diameter of the stem and sheaths about one 

 inch. Sheaths about a span long, armed with fascicles of flat rather 

 deflexed spines, shorter and stouter than usual ; at the base of the 

 petiole swollen transversely. Petiole in its lower naked part about 

 two feet long, triangular, armed with similar and generally solitary 

 but smaller spines, those of the margin subulate and slender : pinni- 

 ferous part convex-trigonal, under convex-face armed with clawed 

 prickles three or four together, upper unarmed or with smaller 

 prickles. Pinnae many, alternating, sometimes almost opposite, linear- 

 lanceolate, 15-16 inches long, 12-13 lines broad, acuminated into a 

 long cirrhose bristle, mid vein prominent above and generally smooth, 

 underneath with a few bristles, as have also two lateral veins : mar- 

 gins bristly especially towards the point. 



Spadix (young) club-shaped, mature pendulous (?) ; peduncle 

 about a foot long ; exserted part flattened, slender, about a span long, 

 much armed chiefly along the edges with short stout spines in twos 

 or threes ; alternately and distantly branched, each branch suffulted 

 by a large leathery ascending spathe ; of these the outermost is spa- 

 thiform, the margins revolute towards the apex, indistinctly bi-cari- 

 nate, with stoutish solitary spines along the keels ; the rest flat, un- 

 armed, about a span in length. Branches 2 or 3 times shorter than their 

 spathes, nearly of the same direction with the spadix, with distichous 

 slightly spreading ramifications. These (the spikes) are 1^-3 inches 

 long, distinctly flexuose : bearing at each flexure a scale-like amplec- 

 tent bracte, and one flower. 



Flowers all pushed to the posticous side, on short stalks or nearly 

 sessile, surrounded at the base by a short, somewhat 3-toothed cup, 



* Specimens : apex of a flower bearing stem of a female plant. 



