9 0 ANNALS OF RORAL BOTANIC GARDEN, CALCUTTA.
incised, lacinulce unequally serrato; serratures callose-apiculafce; upper leaves sliglitly
less dirideJ, uppermost often reduced to a saiall, OTate-laucoolafco, very acute scalc.
Flowers unknown. Jnfructescence racemose, 20—30 em. long. Bracts deciduous. Heads
of follicles about 6, lower consistitig of 3, upper often of 2 or I follicle. Peduncles
elongating, at first about 5, finally 10—lo mm. long, about 0-7 mm. thick,
terete, torus forming a small knob. Follicles stipitate; stipes subtorete, striated, thin,
finally 10—12 mm. long ; folliclc proper cylindric. attenuated into the base, terminated
by the short persistent style, without stipes 3 - 4 em. long, membranous, finely r.iticnlate;
sutures naiTow, not prominent; persistent stylo little more than 1 mm. long, stigmatic
surface thick, extending along the ventral suture, slightly recurved at tlio apex, seeds
numerous, obovoid.
Eastern Sikkim : nt Nutat; Phari [Dunghu !).
Flowers just fallen in July; fruit ripens in August.
This specios agrees with Coptis Irachypdala, Sieb. et Zuco., in tKe bitornately divided leaves
•with pinnntlfid segments, tlie partitions being agaia pinnatifld or inoisod-serrate, tbe serratures being
acute. The authors stat«, however, that this specios has long pedioelled ilovrera and that " habitus
omnino ut in C. a^^phnifMi, DO., Bed seg^raenta folionim profundius incisa, lobis plerumque
augustioribus et minorlbua." la our species the lobes are much larger thin in 0. a'.phnifolia \ iu fact as
r e g a r d s the vegetative p'^rts it stands nearer G. Tecta than 0. asplcnifolia. Prom both it differs widely
i n the size and shape of tho follicles.
C. anemonaifolia, Sieb. et Zuce, differs in the leaves being tematisect instead of biter n a t e ly divided,
a n d the peduncles being twice as long as the fruit.
I n d e e J , an esam'nation of the figures in Phonzo Zoufou, Yol. YII, proves clearly that our plant
does belong to neither C. (inemoncpfolia nor to C. brnchypeUla. It is, however, very closely related to
Coplii urkntalU, Masim. To judge from üasiiaowicz's description and Phonzo Zoutou's fig. tab. I I
versa, which Professor H a t h doubtfully refers to C. orimlalh, the leaves of the two speciog are nearly identical.
A further po'.nt oí ngreement between the two consists in the size of the follicles and the relative length
of stipes and follicle proper. Professor H u t h states tha t the follicle of C. orientals is about 30 mm. long
of which nearly 10 mm. are aoouunted for by the stipes. The longest follicles in our species are about
mm. long, the stipss being 15 mm. The only essential difference between C. ospriocarpa and
C. orievla/is rests on tlie comparative leugth of fruit and fiedicel. Maximowicz lays considerable stress
on the relative length of fruit and pedicel, For be says :—"C. atiemonsefolia a 0. oriental! dlifert
pedunculis fructum ad summum duplo, in nostra (C. orientali) triplo quintuplovo snperautibus.' la
C. osptiocaiya the longest fi-uit-bearing pedicels are 17 mm. long, and about one-third the length of
a stipita-e follicle, b u t usually they are only I or less. C. oriontalis appears to have S TO or moro carpels
i n one head. Uur species has never more than three. There may, of course, exist other differences in the
p a r t s of the flower.
PLATB 115. Coplit ospriocjrpa, P. Brulil, fruiting speoii
3, seedi 4, scalo from below loñureseence.
iQ from Sikkim ; 1, very immature follicle ; 2, ovary ci
D E L P H I N I U M .
A l t h o u g h it may be a motter of convenience to retain Aooniium as a separate genus, the characters
which distinguish it from Delphinium are of so little weight that we cannot help agreeing with Bâillon,
who unites the two. On the one hand the posterior sepal of the extreme forms of Aconitwn Lycoctomim
is t rul y spurred, whilst in Delphinium Sohenackeri and allied forms it is more holmet-shaped than in many
u n aconite. The only character which can be used to separate all the foims of Aconitum from those of
Delphinium is the existence of a well-developed claw in the nectaries, the o'aw being novor sboiter than
DESCRIPTIONS OP NEW AND R.lEE INDIAN PLANTS. 9 1
the cucullus and usuaUy longer; «hilst in Delphinium it is only indicated and in only a few species is there
a distinct rudiment of one. With our present knowledge of Mphiniitm and Aconitum it is doubtful
whether any botanist could be found who would consent to a generic separation of tho two, if they
had been originally united. It is certainly as r.-asonable to establish co,.sclida as a separate genus as it
is to aUow AconHum. generic rank. Di-lplnnium would then be distinguished from the other i i / / ¿ c r e f f i by
its monosymmetrio flowers and the foim cf its nectaries, and it would be divided info the three
subgenera—
r u d i m e n t a r y ;
I.—CoNsor.ii>A; nectaries coherent into one, rkrelj- abortive; carpel solitary.
II.—DER.PHi.S-IUM VERUM; nectariferous staminodes 2, separate, claw abs
caipels 3 - 8 .
I i r . - A c o N i T i ; M ; nectariferous stiiminodes 2, separate, claw at least as long as the nectary proncrcarpels
3—8. i i' »
The arrangement of the species belonging to Delphi,nuin verum into seelions that leave closely allied
forms together, is a matter of great diliiculty, and is ici some eases impossible. The f-.llowin- cla=si.
fication, to a certain extent foreshadowed by the lamented Professor Prantl in " Di e Pflanzen f ami U e n i s
here attempted, A different grouping will, according to a friendl y communication of Professor E Huth be
adopted by him in Hs monograph on Delphinium, which will shortly be published in En g ier ' s Jahrbücher
and which wiU for a long tim, to come form the standard work on this highly interesting genus. '
Section I.-DiiLPHi.VELL®; annual; anterior staminodes glabrous; seeds either depressed-spherical
t h e wrinkles forming an open cup at the top {Dclphinell^ prop,im), or trian-ular-subglobose,
areolate-nigose (Stcphisagrea). °
Section II-IsocHEiL^; perennial; anterior staminodes hairy, similar in colour to the sepals
usuaUy about as long as, or longer, rarely (in Z). .3 mm. shorter than tho anterio^
sepals, Lght coloured, usually bifld, seeds lameUate-rugose; cauline leaves usually conspicuously
sheathing. TothissecüonbeloDg-2?, doBystachyum, Boiss.; b. ¡„„ig.ruu, Boiss •
D. Bo i s s . ; D. micrunthum, Boiss; D. /.yiridum, Willd., with its subspecies 1)
f ^ s n . , Waldst. et Kit., i), D, Bo i s s . ; i). Ls
D. Bo i s s . ; further D. f , R o y l e ; D. demdulum. Wall.; D. t.krosu.n
Anch.;D.penicillaitm, Bo i s s . ; D. kurdicum, BoU..; D. Zalil, Aitch. etHemal . ; D. ^aniculae.
Bo,ss.; i). H. f. et T. ; i). Pr e s e n
Section IU. -Ho«. .ocnno^; perennial; anterior staminodes hairy, similar in colour lo ,he sepals
(blue, more rarely pui^Ie), distinctly and usually much shorter than the anterior sepals.
n e Z smöl ' ^^ ^^ " ^ ^^^^ lameUate-rugose, sometLe
n e a r l y smooth, usually with the epide.inis more or less loose, especiaUy along tl,e edges-
BocHn. i v ^ T ' ' He m s l , subsp. 1> ß
p e r e n n i a l ; anterior staminodes hairy, very different iu colcu^ from
a n d ^ o r t e r than, the (blue, purple, or variegated) sepals, usually purplish-black oT
n u t - f e ) w n . rarely white or yellow, lamina ovate, usually biäd with t
2 - n t e roundi sh and emarginate or bilobod; seei
arcely sheatb.ng. This is divisible in two subsections, which, when our k n o Z I of
t h e ^ ^ u o t u r e of the seed, has been completed, will probably fo.m two s . p a Z
Subsoction L - P ^ s ™ ^ ; seeds with theMoose epidermis forming wings along the ed.es
w.u.; D. „ä Z,. 4 " - . » « . » - c t b ' '"