SANSEVIEIÌA ZEYLAMIC 4 i
182. ROTTBOELLIA PERFORATA.
Pmoocoo orilieTclingas.
Culms many, cvect, simple, rounc!, sraootli, joiiued, but not piped,
r.oin iliree to five feet l.igli, aiul about as lUick ns a cvowquill.
Leaves small fo.' the size of the grass, slender and smooth, margins
hispid, month of the sheaths and for a little way up the base
ol' the leaves, very woolly.
.spike terminal, and from the exterior axils solitary, pedimcled,
round, smooth, as thick ns a crow-quill; from three to six
inchcs long. Rachis: wJiere the flowers are opposite, there
is an oblong perforation, so that the backs of the inner
glumes of the calyx touch esch other.
Flowers in pairs, nearly opposite, on the lower half, or more, of
the spike; above alternate, sometimes all hermaphrodite,
sometimes hermaphrodite and male intermixed.
C<i/7.vone-iwo-nowcr'(t, two-valved: valvelets simple, the exterior
rigid, the interior fum and ^vhite, but obliquely linearoblong.
CoToh when single it is hermaphrodite and three valved, when
double, the exterior one is male, and the t\vo liave four
valves; all arc membranous, and in shape conforming to
that of the calyx, but smaller.
This species is rather rare; it grows on low rich pasttire
^ Both species are of a very coarse nature; cattle do not eat
18?. GISEKIA PHARNACEOIDES.
Linn, nianl. 562.
Ishi-rash-kura of the Telingas.
Stem prostrate, round, smooth, jointed, from one to four feet long,
and as thick as a crow-c[uilI.
Leaves opposite, short-petioled, oval, entire, smooth, half or three
quarters of an inch long.
Pedmclcs axillary, many, bo\ving, oue-ílo^ver•d.
Flowers small, greenish.
Is annual; and a native of cultivated ground.
The leaves and tender tops are eaten in stews by the natives.
184. S.'VNSEVIERA ZEYLANICA.
Li7m. spec, plant, edit. Wildejiow 2, 159.
Salmia spicata. Camn. ic. i.p. 24. I. 246.
Aletris hyacinthoides zcylanica. Lijin. .tp. plani. 450.
Katu-kapel. Rheede MaUb. 11./». 8S. i. 42,
Bow-string hemp.
Tshama-cada Nar of the Telingas.
Roots perennial, stole-bearing : stoles as thick as the little finger
run under the ground, invested with sheathing scales.
isawradical, 4-8. the exterior shortest, spread most, and are considerably
broader; the interior nearly erect, from one to
four feet long, semi-cylindric, groov'd on the upper side,
cach ending in a round, tapering, sharp point; the)- are all
clouded with deeper and lighter blue, and somewhat striated;
but otherwise they are smooth,
Scape issues froni the centi'e of the leaves, from one to two feet
long, (including the raceme or flower-hearing part) ercct,
round, smooth, aboutas thick as a small rattan; between the
raceme and the base, there are, at regular distances, four or
five pointed, alternate, sheath.s.
Raceme Gvccl. about as long, or lunger, than the scapc below the
nowers, striated, smooth.
Flowers grcenish-whitc, erect, collected in fasciclcs of four to six,
from little, regularly distant, tubercles of the raceme.
Brnclcs small, membranous.
Pedicels club'd, short, ascending, one-flowcr'd.
Calyx none.
Cord one petal'd, funnel-form, half six-cleft: divisions nearly
linear.
Filaments length of the divisions of the corol, and inserted into
their base. Anthers linear-oblong, incumbent, half twoleft.
Germ three-lob'd. Slyle length of the st , Stigma three-sided,
club'd. entire,
Beiriesom, two, or three, slightly united above, but cach berry
globular, fleshy, orange-colour, smooth, size of a pea, oneseodcd.
It may be remarked, as in Sapindus and Menispermiuu,
that tliere are the rudiments of three, both In the germ
and ripe fruit : but all the three seldom ripen.
Seeds globular.
It grows commonly under bushes in thin jungle, and almost
in every soil. Flowering time the cold, and beginning of the
hot season, that is, from the beginning of January till May.
In a good soil, and where plants are regularly and moderately
watered, the leaves grow to S-4 high; they contain a
number of fine, remarkably strong, longitudinal, white fibres, the
length of the leaf, of which the natives make their best bowstrings.
To separate the fibres from the pulpy pans, the natives
la)' a single fresh leaf on a smooth board, and securing one end by
the great toe of one foot, they scrape the leaf from them, ^vith
a thin slice of wood held by both hands, and quickly separate
the pulp. The same purpose is effected by steeping the.leaves in
water, as practised in Europe with flax and hemp: but I
found, upon trial, the colour of the fibres much injured by that
mode.
About 80 pounds of the fresh leaves yielded one pound of
the clean dry fibres. The leaves were gathered at once, from a
small bed of the plants, (scarcely three yards square), which had
been planted about twelve months before in my own garden,
and they were, upon an average, under two feet long, ownig
to their having been gathered before they were at their full size,
r a i l grown leaves of 3 and 3i feet long, yielded proportionally
one pound of the clean fibres, from 40 pounds of fresh leaves;
eight pounds of such leaves yielding three ounces of clean flax.
Hence I conclude that this plant might be cultivated to very great
advantage ; for even according to the first mentioned rate, of one
pound of the fibres, from a bed of three square yards, one acre
would yield 1613 pounds of flax at one gathering, and two crops
may be reckoned on yearly, in a good soil and favourable season.
after the plants have arrived to a proper age. The plants 1 used
Avei e onl)' twelve months old, which I imagine to be hardly suflicient
for yielding the best, and the largest proportion of flax.
Thei e is certainly a great variety of uses to which these fibres
might be well applied, probably to more than any other substance
yet known. I am inclined to think that the fine line, called China
grass, which is employed for fishing-lines, fiddle-strings, and
other purposes, is made of these fibres.
The plant is readily propagated from slips, whicli issue in great
abundance from the roots ; it requires little or no care, and being
perennial, it would not often (if at all) require renewing: indeed
the bed in my garden required thinning.
I remember to have seen, some years ago, a bed or two of these
plants in Mr. Claud Russell's garden at Vizagapatam, which grew
much more luxuriantly than mine have done, and gives me reason
to think that a rich sandy soil may suit the plant better than our
stiffev soil about Samulcotah, Should it ever become an object of
culture, a less expensive and more expeditious method of cleaning
the flax from the pulpy parts of the leaves, than that of the natives
above described, must be contrived ; for as tliey manage it, that
part of the process, would prove a great di
ixpens
all the rest.
185. DAMASONIUM INDICUM.
Linn. spec. pLmil. edit. Willdenow. 2. p. 276.
Stratiotes Alismoides. Linn. spec, plant. 7 54.
Neer Veneky of the Telingas,
Root fibrous.
Leaves ladical, petioled, from oblong-hearEetl, to broad-hearted,
waved, 7-ll-nervcd, smooth, of a thin membranous texture;
size very various, about six inches each way.
Petiole three-sided; length various.
Peduncle radical with the petioles, and of the same length, 4-5-
sided, smooth, one-Ilower'd.
Spathe one-leaved, 5.-6-wing'd: wings membranous, waved; mouth
D-6-tooth'd.
Peria7ith AhovQ, three-leaved.
Corol thrce-petal'd.
Kectary: three invei-sc-hearted scales grow within the insertion of
the petals.
Filaments from 6 to 10, erect. Anthers linear, eiect.
Germ within the belly of the spathe,
5(j;«from 6 to lO, half two-cleft.
Stigmas acute.
Capsule oblong, crowned with the withered perianth, six-groov'd,
one-cell'd, six-valved.
Seeds numerous, affixed to six sliarp keels [receptacles) running on
the inside of the sutures of the six valves.
.n annual plant, and native orshalIo>
; the rainy season.
; flo^
XS6. SYMPHOREMA INVOLUCRATUM.
Suroodo of the Telingas,
Involucre 6-8-leaved. Ca/)A: below. 6-8-tooth'd. Ccri/one-peta led,
6-8-cleft. Seed one, inclosed in the calyx.
Stem woody, large, climbing ; bark ash-colour'd.
Branches straight, cross-arm'd.
Leaves opposite, short-petioled, egg'd, gro.ssly saw'd, downy,
about three inches long, and two broad.
Pii/w/c/sj fascicled, from the extremities of the naked branchlets,
and last years axills, round, downy, each supporting a single
iirabellet.
i'lfoaiswsessile, small, white.
Involucre six-eight-Ieav'd, seven-nine-flower'd: leaflets chafFy,
lanced, do^vny, peimanent.
Calyx beneath, onc-leav'd. tubular, six-eight-striated, six-eighttooth'd.
downy, permanent.
Corol one-petal'd : tube short; border six-eight-cleft: divisions
linear, .spreading.
seven-eight, shorter than the corol. inserted just below
its divisions. Anthers
Gei-m round.
length of the stamens.
Sllgnui bifid.
Pericarp none, the reinainin;
Seed one, globular, smooth, ;
u-'d calyx s.
a jjea.
A large scandent shrub, a native of forests; casts its leaves
during the cold season, but they return with the iiowers in
February, March, and April.
I know of no use made of any part of this shrub, cxccpt for
fuel.
187. LAURUS INVOLUCRATA.
Narra of the Telingas.
Tmnk erect. Bark brown on the trunk and larger branches, on
the small, light-ash coloured and smooth.
Leaves scatter'd, |)ctioled, broad-lanced, attenuated into a long
slender waved point, three-nerved, (nerves unite above the
base, as in Laurus Cinnamomum, and vanish a little above
the middle of the leaf.) entire, smooth, above shining, below
whitish, 4 to 5 inches long, and 1 and l i broad. When they
first appear, they are covered with a most beautiful soft
satin-like, yellowish silver-down.
Petiole aboxit an inch long, channel'd, slender, bowing.
Stipules none, but many conical scales surround the conical buds,
before the leaves expand.
Umhellel axillary, sessile, solitary.
Involucre four-leaved, five-floreted: leaves orbicular, concave,
falling, Florets short, pedicel'd.
Petals four, oblong, spreading.