stiff, straight, angular. Leaves scattered, near, spreading', 

 oblique, tapered downwards, obtuse at the point, veiny 

 with three raised nerves, smooth, persistent, not of a very 

 deep green colour: petioles very short, jointed, protuberant 

 at the joint and wrinkled, decnrrent. Spikes resembling cat- 

 kins, generally in pairs, much shorter than the leaf, spread- 

 ing, sessile, cylindrical: peduncles flowerbearing their whole 

 length, bracteate. Flowers sessile, close, scentless, lemon- 

 coloured, chiefly with both stamens and pistils, sometimes 

 with only stamens. Bractes simple, one at the base of each 

 peduncle and of each flower, oval, concave, membranous, 

 reddish, caducous, those of the spikes twice the length of 

 those of the flowers. Calyx campanulate, membranous, pale 

 yellow, five-toothed, three times shorter than the corolla. 

 Petals five, affixed to the lowermost part of the calyx, oval, 

 acute, upright, recurved. Filaments numerous, inserted at 

 the bottom of the calyx below the petals, grown together at 

 the base into a ring, free and distinct all the way, from 

 thence diverging into globular tufts, capillary, twice the 

 length of the petals and of the same colour: anthers round- 

 ish, upright, lemon-coloured, very small, two-Iobed. Ger- 

 men detached, whitish, oval, pubescent: style growing on 

 one side of it, overtopping the stamens, straight, capillary: 

 stigma a simple obtuse point. 



Both the above descriptions are principally collected 

 from the French in M. Ventenat's work. 



