/ 



f] 



264 



MR. S. KURZ OK IKDTAK LEMNACEiE, 



not without some hesitation. This course appeared preferable to 

 either of the alternatives — of referring it to Bheedia or erecting 

 it into a new genus. The difficulty arises principally from the 

 number of parts in the floral envelopes, whether we regard the 

 two outermost leaves as sepals or bracteoles. Whatever we call 

 them, however, we have a noteworthy departure from the charac- 

 teristic symmetry of Garcinia proper, in which the calyx consists 

 of two decussating pairs of sepals, and the corolla of four petals 

 alternating with the sepals. 





Enumeration of Indian Lemnacecd. By Mr. Sulpiz Kimz, Curator 

 of the Herbarium of the Eoyal Botanical Gardens, Calcutta. 

 Communicated by Dr. A^'derso', F.L.S., Director of the Koyal 

 Botanical Gardens, Calcutta. 



(Plate V.) 

 [Eead November 2, 18C5.] 



Ik submitting the description of a new kind of duckweed, I have 

 thought it not uninteresting to give at the same time a general 

 enumeration of all the LemnacecE which, so far as I am acquainted 

 with them, occur in India and the adjacent archipelago. 



This new species, which I call Lemna oligorrMza^ shows such a 

 similarity in the structure of the fronds to Spirodela polyrhza^ 

 that I found it necessary, after examination of the flowers, to 

 connect Spirodela again with Lemna, Tehnatophace possesses the 

 habits of Wolffia, but is apparently essentially the same as Lemna. 

 As I have never had sufficient material for a minute examinatiou 

 of its flowers, I prefer keeping the genus distinct for the present. 



Duckweeds occur nearly as generally in the tropics as m 

 northern countries, though a moist region, covered with tanks 

 and rivers, is more favourable to them than a dry one. Bengal 

 is, therefore, very rich, not only in species, but also in the number 

 of the individuals. A remarkable diminution of them can very 

 evidently be observed in travelling from Calcutta to the dry 

 districts of Behar near Parasnath, about 200 miles distant. 



I possess little information about the vertical distribution ot 



# I 1 _ ^ 



small 



ically 



mountains. In Java, at 5000 feet above the sea, and even where 

 lakes and pools of water are numerous, scarcely any duckweeda 

 are found. This is the more remarkable, as nearly all the species 

 are found both far to the north and south of the globe. A^i 



