I9701 FURTADO: HYPHAENE SomeHyphaene Speciesfrom the Botanic Gardens,Catrcutta C. X. Funrllo Singapore From time to time Hyphaene theboica trations to show its habit, stated that "to is mentioned as a palm that has been H. thebaica was be seen in many a successfullygrown in India. The only gardenof India and Ceylon," (p. 165), Indian speciesthat was commonly mis- an opinion found reiteratedseveral times taken for H. thebaica was distinguished by other writers. by Beccari (1908) under the name of Nevertheless,I was unable to receive H. ind,ica Becc. Nevertheless,Blatter, a fruit from India or Ceylon of a genuine who in his monographicwork The Palms H. thebaica as typified by Martius ol British Ind,ia and Ceylon (1926) ad- (1838). However in the region of mitted 11. inilica as a good speciesand Thebes there seems to occur also a re-describedit with photographic illus- I. Hyphaene Bzssel growing at the Calcutta Ia. Hyphaene Bzssei. Portion of rachiila, part Botanic Garden under the name f1. thebaica. of petiole, hastula and base o{ leaf, {ruit in Photo by T. A. Davis. section. Photo bv Juraimi. PRINCIPES [Vol. 14 2. Hyphaene Bussei at Calcutta. Photo by T. A. Davis. species that is referable to the group "H. namedby Beccari (1924,p.32) as muhiformis" and Beccari's H. thebaica (1924, PL 20) seemsto be referablealso to the latter group, many forms of which are known from Kenya. Apparently, Blatter followed Beccari in identifying "H. H. thebaica with a form of multi- formis," and not with 1/. thebaica (L.) "the Martius; for while he noted that young plants are of slow and precarious growth" in India and Ceylon, older o'much plants were better developed" there than the trees in Egypt (p. 165). Recently S. K. Basu (1969) reported the speciesas occurring cultivated in the Botanic Gardens,Calcutta, but the illus- tration given in the article shows that it has beenmisidenti{ied. As it is not easyto receivegood speci- 2a. Hyphaene Bussei. portion of leaf and fruit of plant in Fig. 2. Photo by Juraimi. 19701 FURTADO: HYPHAENE I19 3. Hyphaene Bussei, a third specimen at Cal- cutta. Photo by T. A. Davis. 3a. Hyphaene Bussei. Portion of leaf and fruit o{ specimen in Fig. 3. Photo by Juraimi. mens even oI Hyphaene species culti- vated in gardens,I requestedPro{. T. A. rarely two. The species is known as Davis of the Indian Statistical Institute, HyphaeneBussei Dammer ex Busse. The Calcutta, to procure for me fruiting type was collectedat Bubu in the Ugogo specimensand photographsof the species district of Kenya. Busse who collected of Hyphaene cultivated in the Botanic it stated that it does not branch above Gardens.Calcutta; and as a result of his ground. generouscooperation, I venture to write there is no apparent reason this note as a supplementto the nomen- However palm that has a strong tendency clature ol the Hyphdene spp. discussed why a dichotomize underground should by Basu in the above-mentionedarticle. to ceaseto do so above ground unlesscon- "Hyphaene L thebaica" ditions are not favourable. This might to long The stem oI H. thebaica dichotomizes happenin areaswhich are subject above the ground, but so far only one dry season alternating with periodic soeciesis known to dichotomize below floods, so that a{ter the seedhas germi- tie ground-usually dichotomizing nated during a flood its subsequent twice, rarely once below the ground. growth would receive periodic setbacks The stemsthat emergefrom one seedin during droughts or prolonged dty the ground are thus four or three (the weather. Busseseems to have seennewly fourth one is generally suppressed),but establishedcolonies oI Hyphaenespecies 120 PRINCIPES lVol. 14 sometimesventricose in the uppermost portion; apparently because of this character Beccari placed the specieslz the Ventricosae,reducing it as a sub- speciesof H. uentrico,sct,(1924, 46, PI. 40, Figs. 3 & 4 & Pl. 45, Flg. B). But the speciescertainly belongsto the group "H. rnuhiformls" of Beccari.True dichot- omy does not occur in the Ventricosae, while its leaf hastula is one-sided and the lamina is waxy not lepidote; whereas the Calcuttaspecimen shows an obliquely bilateral hastula and a very lepidote lamina. In Calcuttathe specimensgrow under very favourable conditions and both male and {emale plants have bifur- cated several times above ground. But there are two forms in Calcutta: the one that produces ovate oblong fruits with entire, chestnutcoloured skin (Figs. I & Ia, 2 & 2a, and Basu's Fig. f ) ; in the other the fruits are oblong, hardly nar- rowed above, with the skin dark coffee coloured,su{{used with yellow and green, bearing reticulatemarkings and irregular cracks (Figs. 3 & 3a). The latter char- acter is often {ound in speciesthat grow in moist conditions near seashores.Fig- ure 3 showsthat the ground is moist and therefore covered with many Rhapis and. other plants around; whereasthe ground around other palms (Figs. 1 & 2) is clean. There is another Hypkaene (Fig. a) 4. A Hyphaene, perhaps true H. thebaica, at which in Calcutta has not flowered. It the Calcutta Botanic Garden. The only branch- has bifurcated about 25 ft. aboveground. ing is 25 ft. above ground. Photo by T. A. Davis. This might be true H. thebaica,but grows only vegetatively perhaps because the in localities subject to such periodic climate is too moist for it. floods and droughts. In the photograph "Hyplmene taken by Busse and printed by Beccari 2. indica" (1924, Pl. 45, Fig. B), the three stems There are in Calcutta two clumps of arising from the ground are young, Hyphaenewhich are cespitosenot dichot- having all persistentlea{-bases, and the omous. Neither of these could be 11. fourth seemsto have arisen by bifurca- indi,ca which, as said above, produces tion abovegroundof one of the stems. dichotomousstems. Two distinct species Busse reported that the stems are are involved: t9701 FURTADO: HYPHAENE tzl :'.j 5. Hyphaene Schatan at Calcutta Botanic Garden. Photo by T. A. Davis. (a) Hyphaene Schatan Bojer ex Dam- mer (Figs.5&5a). There is a cespitosepalm which was first describedby Dammer (1900) on a specimencollected in Mauritius by Bojer and listed in his Hortus Mauritianus (1837). Someof the forms from Mada- gascar identified with this might have to be separatedas 11.Hild,ebrandtii Becc. The Calcutta form certainly agreeswith Beccari'sPL.36" Fig.8 (op. cit.) which being from Bojer's collection seen by Dammer, might be consideredas a holo- type or neotopotypeof the species;and also with Pl. 35, Figs. 9 & 10, which were also from the islands in the Mau- ritius archipelago. A specimen in the herbarium of the British Museum (Natu- ral History), London, collected by Ro- 5a. Hyphaene Schatan. Portions of leaf, ra- chilla, and fruit of plant in Fig. 5. Photo by Juraimi. r22 PRINCIPES [Vol. 14 6. Hyphaene natalensis at Calcutta Botanic Garden. Photo by T. A. Davis. billard in 1862 on the mountains of the Reunion Island is alsothe samespecies. (b) Hyphaene natolensisKuntze (Figs. 6&6a) This is also a cespitosespecies but found on the east coast of South Africa and Mozambique; its fruits are different and larger. In cespitosespecies the lateral buds generally cease to grow above ground, but occasionally one or more dormant lateral buds might become ac- tive and then gardenersusually give the spdciesa wrong name. I have received specimenso{ this specieslabelled as'oH. thebaica"; but one can easily distinguish such a branching, because the two "branches" are not equal and the main stem tends to be somewhat constricted below the branching, even when the branching looks dichotomous. <- 6a. Hyphaene natalensis. Portion of leaf and fruit of plant in Fig. 6. Photo by Juraimi. r9701 WHITNIORE:TAXONOMIC NOTES r23 Lr:rnnlrunp Ctrrn 1924. Palme della Tribt Borasseae. Br,rrrrn, E. 1926. The Palmsof British India B.rsu, S. K. 1969. The Indian Botanic Gar- and Ceylon. den, Calcutta. Principes 13: 115-119. lJber 'oDum" Dmrnrn, U. 1900. Hyphaene Schatan. Brccenr, O. 1908. Le Palme od k. botanischenGartens und "Hyphaene" Notizblatt des e pir) specialmente quelle Museumszu Berlin 3(.22): 34-35. dell'Affrica italiana. L'Aericoltura Colo- Menrrus,K. P. volt. 1838. HistoriaNaturalis niale 2: 135-183. Palmarum3: 226,pl. 133. Taxonomic Notes on Some Malayan Palms T. C. W'sIrurone Forest Research. Institute, Kepong, Malaysia Palm taxonomy is bedevilled by the I am grateful to the Directors of the s,mall and frequently inadequate frag- Calcutta, Kew, and Singapore herbaria ments gathered by the early collectors, for permissionto examinematerial under their poor descriptivenotes, and the fact their care. The abbreviations CAL. K. that the specimens are now often scat- and SING respectivelyare used in cita- tered amongstseveral herbaria. Malayan tions of specimenswhich follow. palm taxonomy is no exception. Prior to publication of a semi-popularaccount of ARENGA the palms o{ this richly endowedpenin- Nloore's arguments (Principes 7: sula (Whitmore, Palms ol Malaya, Ox- I02-IL7, 1960) for reducing Did,ymo- ford University Press, Kuala Lumpur, sperrna,toArenga are convincing. There in pre'ss),I have had to give some con- is a lot yet to be learned about these sideration to taxonomy, mainly in the palms in the forests where they grow, subfamily Arecoideae which Furtado's and little progress will be made urrtil otherwise extensiveresearches into Ma- more collectionsand careful observations layan palms have scarcely touched. I are available. Moore demurred from havebeen able to resolvesome problems, transferring the two Malayan speciesto greatly helped by the background of Arenga becausehe was not sure how they study in the forest,but othersstill remain differ from Arenga caud,ata(Loureiro) unresolved. It is my experience in H. Wendland et Drude. I have no diffi- Malaya that progress in this family of culty in telling the two speciesapart in princes comesafter extensivefull collec- the forest, and am sure two taxa must be tion and observation,not least to learn recognized.