lO-t ANNALS OF ROYAL BOTANIC GARDEN, CALCUTTA.
ilnwcre' of some forms of B. haalmxrianam, it is quite possible tliat koshmii-iamiin and JacqKemqilianum
fire descendaiits of D. speciosum, whibt B. Uruiiomanum may come fi-om a common stock with D. elahim.
Ic we deny speoifio value to glandular Imirs and tti9 absence or preseaoe of a musky odour, we will bare
to regard D. Jacquemonliamm as a subspecies of B. kashmirianwn, but it cannot be united witli D.
B.
PiiTR 122. Delpkimum ientijkrt^m, DathiB ; J, var. platycentra-, 2. bract; 3, bracteolo ; 4, postorior scpa!;
, lateral;.6, saterior sepal; 7—S, nectariferous s tomi nodes ; 9, 10. 11, petaloid staminodes; 13, 13, the same; li.
tamensi 15, anther; 16. gjnoecium; 17. pistils; 18, ovarj. opened, partly cut away; 19, ripe follicle; 2U. seed.
DELPHINIUM VISCOSOM, H. f . et T.
An esamination of the rich material collected under tbe direotion of Dr. King prOTOs this specios
ki be rather polymorphous; and if it were not for the existence of intermodiate forms it would bo
possible to split it up into two or three tolerably well-defined species. Parficidarly Tariable is the
ii.dumeutum of the ovaries; but a oritical study of this oliaracter leads to tbe conclusion that, here as
oTsrj-whero, the indumentum even of tne carpels is only a feeble peg to suspend a species f rox.
The following are the varieties of D. tucosum which may at present bo distinguished ;—
TÜT.
i c f u ; p. B.\ middle-sized; leaves deeply trilobate, the lateral lobes lobulate ;
iniloreseenca usually few-flowered; bracts, bracteoles, and upper surface of leaves densely
clothed with soft adpressed greenish-golden hairs; bracts conspicuous, more or less like the
leaves; bracteoles elüptio oblong or oblong-lanoeolate, sometimes three-notobed or trifid at
tlie apes; spur subconical, scarcely or distinctly shorter than the silky sepals; ovaries
silky.—Eastern Nipal: near Kanglauamo and Nirpokri 13,000' [King's coUcctors !)-,
Sikkim: in the Jongri district [King's ccltecton f ) .
. CII.I4TA, P. B.\ a middle-sized or rather tali herb; leaves deeply sub-5-lobed, scarcely
hairy above; inflorescence of one or a few flowers; bracts conspicuous, sepals subvillose
•srith yellow or white hairs; spur conical or subcylindric, often quite as long as the sepals;
ovaries ciliate along the ventral suture, otherwise glabrous, rarely entirely without
hairs,—Sikkim, 15—10,000' (27. / . ct T. /), "Western Sikkim {Kina's M¡kctorK!\.
Var. 7. CONSBCTESS, p. B.; a tall or middle-sized herb ; loaves plurilobate, shortly hairy or
glabrescent above; seoals hirsute with yellowish hairs, but not silky; spur thiok-conical,
• straight or incurved or ubeiiform, about as long as the sepals ; ovaries ciliate at the
ventral suture, otherwise subglabrous, bat follicles ciliate and subhirsate.—Sikkim:
Lebu valloy (Gizmwtñ.').
Var. S. GiGANToifBACTEA, P. S. ; a tall herb ; leaves multilobate, upper siufaoe rathor
densely and adpressedly pubescent ; inflorescence many-flowered ; braots and bracteoles
often very large, lobed or entire and oblong-linear ; sepals sericeo-viUose with yellow
hairs ; spur conical, shorter than the sepals, more rarely nearly equal to them in length ;
ovaries wholly hirsute.-—Sikkim ; on the Zey-Iap-Ia and Natu-lá ; Chumbi : near Kung-bur
{King's coll..'}.
EvidenUy a variety of D. vhcomm and having its place between var. akri/wlnchtim and var. ciltalum
is Huth'a Betphinium trilobatam {Neue Arten der Gatlung Bclphiniam tiré à part da Bulletin do Tiler bier
Boissier, iome I, No. Q, 1893). There is no specimen of Anderson's, exactly tallying with Dr. Huth's
description, in the Calcutta Herbarium. The following is a translation of the description of the forrq.
referred to:—Stem shortly pubescent, simple, one-or few-flowored ; petioles long, sheathing; leaves rounded,
y—5- partite, segments sub-cimeate crenate, incised, glabrous above, Bubpubescept below, bract on the pedicel
îmdtifld pubescent ; bracteoles very large, close to the flower, trilobate, densely pubescent, 20 mm, long.;
spur straight, conical, 15 mm. long; sepals densely golden-pubescent, 30. cm. long; staminodes atro-
-violaceous, upper ones hairy at the apex, with a straight spur, the lower ones yellow-bearded, bifid,
divisions lanceolate produced a t the tip immature follicles glabrous.—This descriptioa would apply to a
DESCEIPTIONS OP NEW AND EABE INDIAN PLANT'S. 103
specimen of var. chrytoirichum with the subglabrous leaves and the (sometimes) glabrous ovary of var.
ciliatum. As already mentioned, var. ohri/sotriclium has sometimes trifid or trierenato bracteoles ; and witii
the large trilobate braots occurring in some forms of D. nico^m it would not be astonishing if the bracteoles
should here and there assume a similar form. The locality (probably the Jongri district) and elevation
agree well with the supposition that D. iriloMum is probably only an aberrant form of var. ciliatum.
Tlíte 123. DAe/piint^m «ism««; H. f. and lli. 1, var. ciliaia, upper pr,rt of flowering stem; 2, var. ¿r-ff««.
(iiraclea; 3-7, var. ciliaia-, 3, nectariferous ataminode; 4, petaloid staminode; 6, base of the saoiL'; 6, stumtn.s;
7, pistil; 8, pistil of var. gigantibTactea \ 9, stigma; IC, follicle of var. ciliata ; 1], steds of the same,
DELPHINIUM SPUCIOSUM 3 f . Büb., subsp. EASUSCUUFOLIUM.
Provided Turczaninow assigned to the term lamcllaio-rugosus the same sigoificance that is attributed
to it by Boissier and other botanists, ho would have been the first to draw attention to the fact tliiit two
species, very similar in most respects, but radically difíoring in the structure of the testa of the seeds, have
been confounded under the name B. etalnm, Lion. On page 75 of his Flora baicaknsh he enumerates
among the diagnostic characters of B. eiatum, " semina lamellato-i-ugosa lamellis imbricalis" ; aud in a note
on page 76 ho says: « i). cuneatum Stev. semi,,a hab4 comprmo-Mquetra angulis aktin et hoc choractcrc a
varistatihui B. eluti bene diUimjuitur." It is, however, possible that Turczaninow did refer to seeds which
are puckered into true transverse wrinkles, as often seen io D. grandiflcnm, B. chcilanthum, B. stapdiomum,
and especially in various forms of the i&aX B. elalum. Boissier ascribed nt first to B. flextto<.um, II, Bieb '
B. dasgcarpwn, Stev., and D. speciomm, M. Bieb. " ion.ina ad ángulos alala" ; and it was Huprecht who first'
in his Flora Caucam, showed that the last-nataed forma have kraellate, rugose seeds, and that it is precisely
this character by which the group of. B. speciosum is sharply distinguishable from that of D. elalnm.
To the former group belongs also the origial D. ranuncidijolium of Wallich, in which the epidermis of
the seed is thrown into transverse wrinkles at an early stage of development, these wrinkles gradually
developing into imbricate scariose scales like those seen in B. kashmiriamim, D. inoanum, or B. campto,arp,,m
Some of the forms, however, included under the varietal name of B. ranunci^li/.l.um in the Flora of
Bndsh India are true Belpiinium elaium-,- as, for instance, the B. Iloffmmieri of Klotach, whioh should go to
form a subspecies of B. elatam co-ordinate with the D. incisum of Wallich. The Indian varieties of
B. ^ ronunciUMium diDer so much in the nature of their indumentum, in the size of the flowers, i
positiou and shape of the bracteoles, and ii n t h e
positiou and shape of the bracteoles, and in the size of the follicles and the relative length of spur and sepab
that the réduction of B. ftc^uosum, M. Bieb., D. da^ycarpum, Stev., and perhaps of B. formosum at.1l™.
to be unavoidable. D. PoUarat.kii, Eupreoht, is known to the writer only from Ruprecht's deloription,
but It seems closely related to some foms of B. rnnuneulifolium. Dr. Huth had the kindness to poi^
out to the wzuter, who has veiified the statement, that the sepals of B. specioswn are hairy on the ix^de
and that this species can thereby bo distinguished from alKed forms. And indeed all the specimens of
B. ranuncalifoliu,n examined by me share that chsraoteristio with B. speciosum. The fact howler
that m B. incisi,m, Wall., the sepals are either all of them glabrous, or ay of them pubescent or some of
them glabrous and somo pubescent, on tbe inner surface, appears to throw doubt on the diagnostic value
of that character. . ^
We subjoin a detailed description of B. yanunculifoUum, (sp. of AVall,,) as far as this form is known
at prosent.
A perennial herb. Kliizomo desconding, subcjimdric, with filiform roollels Slcm
erect, straight or ficxaous, tercto or «ngnkr, striated or snlcate, fismloae, when flowerin..
JO to lOO cm, high {Bometimei probably e,en higher), 4 - 8 mm. thiek near the bai^
glabrescent below, upwards either subglabrous, or hirsute with shinin» deflcMd or
s p r e a d i n g longish hairs; floral azis usually densely pubescent with wUte or yellowish
errsp h a m usually intermixed with glandular hairs. Branches patulous, the lower ones
^ m o h r n e s 40 cm. long. Leaves tona very long-pelioled below to short-petioled upwards
.with slender, beneath prominent, nerves; petibles slender, hardly dilated at the basé rir
A s s . lioT, BOT. GAKD. CALC., VOL. V.