39 
244. EURYALE FEROX. 
Euryale ferox. Salish. in annals of bot. 2. p. 73. Hort. Kew. ed. 2. 
v. 3. p. 296. 
Anneslea spinosa. Andrews’s reposit. 618. 
DESCRIPTION. 
Root consists of numerous, thick, fleshy fibres, which descend 
deep into the soil at the bottom of the water the plant 
grows in. 
Stem none. 
Leaves radical, with petioles sufficiently long to admit of their 
floating on the surface of the water, peltate, from orbicular 
to oval, entire, upper surface dull green, with ferruginous 
veins, and armed with but few, very slender prickles ; under- 
neath a most beautiful purple, and there reticulated with 
numerous, very large, prominent, dichotomous, finally 
anastomosing veins ; armed with long, straight, very sharp, 
tolerably strong spines: size from one to four feet each way. 
Petioles round, and also armed with straight spines. 
Peduncles radical, one-flowered, round, and also armed with 
straight spines; if the water is shallow, they are generally 
so long as to elevate the flower above its surface ; but if deep 
they blossom under water. 
Flowers small for the size of the plant, colour a lovely blue violet. 
Calyx four-leaved, inserted on the crown of the germ, armed on 
the outside with recurved spines; inside smooth, and 
coloured. 
Corol, petals about twenty, narrow, ovate-oblong, the exterior ones 
nearly as large as the calyx, gradually lessening till they 
become very small, and nearly colourless next to the stamens. 
Filaments numerous, and like the petals, lessening toward the 
centre. Anthers oval. 
Pistil. Germ beneath, ovate, armed. Style none. Stigma cup- 
shaped, with the margin only slightly marked with six or 
eight elevations. 
Berry size of a goose egg, armed, irregularly ovate. The internal 
divisions obscure, and irregular. 
Seeds, or rather nuts, about twenty, nearly round, size of a small 
cherry, each enveloped in its own, proper, coloured aril. 
OBSERVATIONS. 
Is a native of the sweet-water lakes, and ponds, over Tipperah, 
Chittagong, &c. to the eastward of Calcutta; where it blossoms 
most part of the year, and is known to the natives of those coun- 
tries by the name Mackannah. 
The seeds are farinaceous, much liked by the natives, and sold 
in the public bazars to the eastward of the mouths of the Ganges, 
where the plant is indigenous. The preparation to fit them for 
the table is as follows: A quantity of sand is put into an earthen 
vessel, placed over a gentle fire. In the sand they put a quan- 
tity of the seed, agitate the vessel or the sand with an iron ladle 
until the seed swells to more than double its original size, when 
it becomes light, white, and spongy ; during the operation the hard 
husk of the seed breaks in various parts, and then readily separates 
by rubbing between two boards, or by striking gently with a 
board. The Hindoo Physicians consider those seeds to be pos- 
EURYALE FEROX. 40 
sessed of powerful medical virtues ; such as restraining seminal 
gleets, invigorating the system, &c. Kc. 
EXPLANATION OF THE FIGURES. 
Fig. 1. Two of the leaves, smaller than they generally are, the 
under surface of the anterior one is represented, and 
the lower edge of the upper surface of the posterior one. 
2, Part of the fower-stalk, and flower in its usual state of 
ex pansion. 
. A vertical section of a flower. 
The same of the seed vessel. 
A transverse section. 
The seed enclosed in its aril. 
1 D o fp 0 
. The same without the aril. 
8. A vertical section of the same. 
Except the two leaves, all the rest are of their natural size. 
COLEBROOKEA.* 
Smith Exot. bot. 2. p. 111. 
DIDYNAMIA GYMNOSPERIMA. 
GENERIC CHARACTER. 
Aggregate. Common perianth imbricated. Proper beneath, five- 
cleft. Corollets one-petalled, irregular. Germs four. Seeds 
Receptacle naked. 
from one to four. 
245. COLEBROOKEA TERNIFOLIA. 
Shrubby, erect. Leaves three or four-fold, lanceolate, obtusely 
serrulate. 
DESCRIPTION. 
Trunk (in three and four year old plants, of about five feet in 
height,) short, woody. Bark light brown, and pretty smooth. 
Branches three or four-fold, ascending young shoots downy. 
Leaves three and four-fold, petioled, drooping, lanceolate, serrate, 
soft, with much very fine down, from four to six inches 
long, and from one to two broad. 
Petioles round, very downy, about an inch long. 
Stipules none. 
Panicles terminal, erect, composed of generally three-fold, cylin- 
dric, amentaceous spikes, closely covered with numerous, 
minute, aggregate, white flowers. 
Galyx. Common perianth, 10 - 20 leaved, many-flowered, imbri- 
cated, permanent. Proper perianth deeply five-parted ; divi- 
stons subulate, nearly as long as the florets, clothed with 
much, long, soft, fine, white wool. These divisions lengthen 
much, and become more woolly by the time the seeds are 
ripe ; giving to the aments, or ramifications of the panicle, 
a much larger, and more woolly appearance, than when in 
blossom, as represented at fig. 8. 
Corol : Universal equal. Proper monopetalous. Tube short. Border 
four-parted: upper division emarginate ; the other three 
ovate, of which the middle one is longer and broader. 
Filaments four, of which two are shorter. Anthers small. 
* The genus is named Colebrookea, in honour of Henry Colebrooke, Esq. whose 
knowledge in the science justly demands this tribute, 
