34,4 



86. PALMJE. 



[Borassns. 



Planted thronglioiit the Presidency and Sind. Fl. Mch. Fr. May. 



Stem tall, cylindrical rough, with the black narrow scars of the fallen 

 petioles, 60 — 80 ft. high, 1 — 2 ft. in diameter. Wood hard, heavy, durable. 

 Weighs about 65 lbs. to the cub. ft. Used for water-pipes and channels, 

 posts, rafters, &c. Leaves used for thatching, mats, &c. The chief 

 product of the tree is the sweet sap which flows from the cut spathes, 

 and when boiled yields sugar (jaggery) ; it is also fermented and made 

 into country liquor. 



10. NANNORHOPS, H. Wendl. 



A gregarious, tufted palm with prostrate branching rhizomes or 

 stems. Leaves flabellate, rigid, plicate, segments 2-fid. Spathes 

 tubular, sheathing. Spadix in the axils of green leaves, much 

 branched. Flowers polygamous. Calyx tubular, 3-lobed. Corolla 

 3-partite, segments valvate. Stamens in the hermaphrodite fl. 6, 

 in the male about 9. Ovary trigonous. Fruit an ovoid or subglobose 

 berry, varying in size from i to J in. in diameter. Albumen horny 

 with a central cavity ; embryo dorsal or sub -basilar. 



N. mtchieana, H. Wendle in Bot. Zeit* 1879, 148. Chamcerops 

 Ititchieana, Grriff. ; Brandis For. Fl. oil. Fharra, Sind. Western Punjab 

 on the salt range. Sind on dry arid hills, usually stemless, sometimes 

 however forms a stem 6 — 8 feet high. Fr. ripe H. S. The fruits are like 

 boy's playing marbles of diSerent sizes. 



11. CALAMUS, Linn. 



Armed scandent, rarely erect palms. Leaves alternate, pinnatisect, 

 rachis often produced into an armed flagellum ; sheath armed, 

 produced into a ligula, with or without an armed flagellum. Spathes 

 tubular or open persistent sheathing the peduncle and branches of the 

 Bpadix and passing into bracts and bracteoles, spathels and sj^atliel' 

 Iziles. Spadices axillary, much branched, usually elongate, sometimes 

 produced into a flagellum. Flowers polygamo-dioicous, solitary 

 or binate within the bracteoles. Male fl. Calyx cupular, 3-toothed. 

 Petals 3, coriaceous valvate. Stamens 6. Female fl. Calyx of male. 

 Corolla tubular below, 3-fid, valvate. Ovary incompletely 3-celled, 

 covered with retrorse scales ; style short or rather long, stigmas 3, 

 Fruit globose or ellipsoid, clothed with deflexed, polished scales. 

 Seed smooth or pitted, albumen equable or ruminate, embryo ventral 

 or basal. 



C. Thwaitesii, Becc. Fl. Br. L 6. 441. Emdihet^ K. 



Common in the evergreen forests at the foot of the Nilkund ghat 

 of North Kanara. In flower and fruit Feb.-Mch. This species 

 or a closely allied one is common near the sea-coast at Marmagoa. 

 Sir J. Hooker remarks on specimens of this plant sent to Kew, in the 

 Fl. Br. I. 6. 44:5, under 0. pseudo-fenuis, Becc. There is a species com- 

 mon in North Kanara on the Ainshi ghdt, also in the ravines near Kadra, 



