Abstract
Calamus pseudoerectus (Arecaceae or Palmae), a new species of rattan from the hilly slopes of Mukti and Mahananda rivers at Darjeeling District of West Bengal in the eastern Indian Himalaya, is described and illustrated. This species closely resembles two Indo-Myanmar species, C. erectus Roxb. and C. arborescence Griff. It, however, is distinguished by its short and extremely slender stem, spine ornamentation, pendulous, long-branched inflorescence, and minute fruits with fimbriate scales. A comparative study among C. pseudoerectus sp. nov., C. erectus Roxb., and C. arborescence Griff. is provided. Conservation status of this species is proposed as Endangered (EN) as per IUCN.
Highlights
Calamus L. is the largest genus of the family Arecaceae (Palmae) with about 520 species worldwide, mostly distributed in the Asia-Pacific region and Africa (Dransfield et al 2008; Baker 2015; Baker & Dransfield 2016)
Calamus is most species-rich in the southeastern region of Asia, with 183 species occurring across the Malay Peninsula, Philippines, Borneo, Sumatra, and Java (Baker & Couvreur 2012; Govaerts et al 2013) and 52 species recognized from New Guinea (Baker et al 2002; Baker & Dransfield 2006)
The lower hills of the eastern Himalaya and the Terai parts are quite rich in Calamus species, with 28 species reported from China (Pei et al 1991), seven from Bangladesh (Alam 1990), eight from Bhutan (Noltie 1994), and nine from Nepal (Paudel & Chowdhary 2005)
Summary
Calamus L. is the largest genus of the family Arecaceae (Palmae) with about 520 species worldwide, mostly distributed in the Asia-Pacific region and Africa (Dransfield et al 2008; Baker 2015; Baker & Dransfield 2016). Bl., and Daemonorops Bl. were reported from various altitudes of West Bengal (Mondal & Chowdhury 2018). During exploration of palms and canes in the various lower hills and riverine forests along small streams (‘khola’) and rivers of the Darjeeling Himalaya, a few interesting specimens of Calamus were collected from Muktikhola (26049’26”N & 88013’22”E, 822m) and Choklong riverine
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