Bolamputty, December—but very sparingly in
flower. I have not myself seen this plant growing,
the specimens were brought by my collector. I have
described the leaves as • all radical and the flowers
scapose, because they spring from the joints of runners,
the plant being without stems. The leaves from
the central tuberous root are larger than those on
the runners, but otherwise quite the same and the
peduncle springs as a short scape from the joint.
2088. Cyanotis decumbens (R. W.), decumbent,
very branchy, woolly all over, especially the sheaths
of the leaves: leaves linear lanceolate, bluntish; above
sparingly, beneath densely woolly; sheaths short,
loose: peduncles axillary and terminal, solitary or
two or three aggregated, longer than the leaves:
spike short, 4-6 pairs of imbricating falcate bra cts:
calyx 3-parted, woolly, as long as the capsule : filaments
bearded, simple : style glabrous, tumid at the
apex, capsule furnished on the apex with a tuft of
rigid hairs.
Quilon, Malabar.—I begin now to entertain doubts
whether I ought not rather to view this as a very
luxuriant form of the preceding than as a distinct
species.
These six species all coincide in the peculiarity of
having pink-coloured flowers. They are all very
nearly allied, so nearly indeed that it seems not improbable
some of them will yet be reduced, but so
far as my present materials enable me to judge, they
seem all distinct and readily distinguishable.
2088. Cyanotis vaginata (R. W.), erect or ascending,
very ramous: lower part of the stem clothed
with the persistent sheaths of aborted or fallen leaves:
leaves sessile, somewhat stem-clasping, ovato-lanceo-
late, acute, clothed on both sides with long slender
hairs: peduncles axillary and terminal, solitary or
aggregated: spikes 10-14-flowered: calyx lobes lanceolate
acute, filaments simple, bearded: stigma sub-
capitate : capsule 3-celled; 3-valved, valves deciduous,
separating from the persistent 3-lobed placenta,
seed two in each cell, superposed.
Malabar.
This and the two following species present the unusual
peculiarity, met with in some Euphorbiacese, of
throwing off the valves of the capsule, leaving the
placentary axis in its place. The upper half of the
placenta, that above the insertion of the seed, is 3-
lobed and has a loose cellular texture, the lower half
is firm. This feature marks these as constituting a
distinct and peculiar group.
2089. Cyanotis papilionacea (Raun. and Sch.),
stem-creeping, leaves linear lanceolate; pilose beneath,
ciliate near the base : sheaths short, loose: peduncles
axillary, terminal, pilose on one side, solitary or two
or three aggregated, about the length of the leaves:
spike 4-12-flowered: bracts 2-6 pairs, ciliate, falcate:
filaments bearded, simple: stigma clavate: valves
of the capsule separating from the persistent axile
placenta.
Malabar. The Commelyna papilionacea of Bur-
mann, the type of this species, is a very obscure plant,
rendered still more so by the figure he has given to
illustrate it, which seems more calculated to mislead
than aid in recognizing his plant. In naming this
species I have been guided rather by Kunth’s description
than the figure, and as they seem to correspond,
so far as the description goes, I trust I have
given the name to the right object.
2089. Cyanotis B ukmanniana (R. W ., Com. cris-
tata? Burm. not Linn.), creeping, diffuse, branched:
branches filiform, pilose: leaves sheathing, sessile,
ovato-lanceolate, obtuse, villous: peduncles axillary
and terminal; solitary or aggregated, longer than the
leaves: spikes secund, 8-12 or more flowered: bracts
4-6 pairs, falcate, ciliate: lobes of the calyx lanceolate
acute: filaments bearded: style simple, not tumid
at the ap ex : stigma sub-capitate, placenta separating
from the valves of the capsule, persistent, lobes
subulate.
Quilon, Malabar.
I quote with doubt, Burmann’s figure, though, I
think, I may almost do so with confidence, at least
with as much confidence as it would be safe to quote
any of his figures of Commelyna, which seem all
miserably bad. But bad as it is, I cannot reconcile
myself to receive it as a figure of the plant, represented
in plate 1, Flora Zeylanica, and given as the
true cristata by Linnseus himself.
Govindooia. (R. W.)
Gen. Chak. Lateral sepals connate to near the
ap e x ; dilated-sack-like at the b a se : posterior one
like the petals and free to the base. Lip posticous
ovato-obtuse, quite entire, embraced and concealed
by the larger connate sepals, calcarate: spur enclosed
within the sack of the sepals. Column elongated,
stigma beaked, two-cleft. Anther dorsal, two-celled :
polleuia two-beaked ending in a long slender caudi- -
cuius and oblong stigmatic gland.—A terestrial, erect,
somewhat branched plant: leaves sheathing at the
base, sessile, broad ovate acute, coarsely plicately-
nerved, glabrous. Spikes terminal, compactly many-
flowered ; each flower supported by a longish subulate
bract.
This plant seems evidently to belong to Lindley’s
division Cranichidse though differing in its prolonged
rostrate fertile, not truncated, rosteUum, but so far as
I can discover, does not enter into any of the genera of
that tribe on which account I have made it the type
of a new genus, the essential distinguishing feature
of which is the remarkable conformation of the lateral
sepals. These are respectively so much produced
that by their union they are enabled to form a sack,
at first sight resembling the spur, so common in the
order, but which, when opened, is found to contain
the proper spur. This of itself, seems to me, to
constitute a very sufficient generic distinction and,
when added to the very long column and tapering
rostellum, so different from the truncated forms common
to this division of the tribe, the tapering filiform
caudiculus, and the oblong stigmatic gland of the
pollinia, leaves no doubt of this being a very distinct
genus.
I have dedicated it to the artist whose facile
pencil produced the drawings for the greater part of
the plates of the last three volumes of this work, and
whose skill in analytical delineation is, I believe, as
yet quite unrivalled among his couutrymen, and, but
for his imperfect knowledge of perspective, rarely
excelled by European artists.
Three Indian Botanists have now essayed to commemorate
in this way the botanical merits of deserv-
( 3 4 )