Calamus melanochaetes (Blume) Miquel.

Mehmud, Selim & Roy, Himu, 2021, Diversity and distribution of palms (Arecaceae) in Assam, India, Check List 17 (1), pp. 69-93 : 80

Calamus melanochaetes (Blume) Miquel.

Figure 5E, F

Diagnostic characters. Stems clustered, climbing, ca 15 m long and with leaf sheath 2.5–6 cm in diameter; indumentums grey; spines flat, linear, 1.5–2.2 cm long; flagella absent. Knee ca 8 cm long, spiny; ocrea incon- spicuous, acute, ca 3 mm long. Leaf pinnate, 1–1.5 m long, cirri ca 1 m long; leaflets regular, linear, acumi- nate, 22–41 cm long, 2–3 cm wide, and veins 3. Inflo- rescences ca 50 cm long; prophyll ca 45 cm long, boat shaped, adaxially spiny; partial inflorescence 5 or 6 in number, 10–14 cm long, covered by respective bracts similar to prophyll but glabrous; pistillate rachillae with dyad flowers; staminate flowers alternate. Fruit brown, globose, ca 1.7 cm in diameter, scales in 18 vertical rows. Flowering and fruiting. March to December.

Distribution. Common in Assam; prefers waterlogged plains.

Vernacular names. Houka Bet (Assamese); Gola Bet (Bengali).

Uses. In furniture (cane), Rabha community believes as lactogenic (apical stem), masticator (fruit).

Material examined. INDIA • Assam, Nawgong, Kholahat Reserve Forest ; Upendranath Kanjilal leg.; ASSAM 30982 . • Assam, Goalpara, Guma Reserve Forest ; 21 May 1915; Upendranath Kanjilal leg.; ASSAM 30978 . • Assam, Karimganj, Damchera ; 24°58′37.2″N, 092°59′17.1″E; alt. 47 m; 18 Nov. 2018; S. Mehmud leg. ; CH, ASSAM 96237 .