290 CLIV. DIOSCOREACEAX. (J.D. Hooker.) [Dioscorea 
Throughout tropical India, from Kumaon in the N.W. HIMALAYA "ns 
to BURMA, and southward to CEYLON and Maracca, DisrRIB. Malay Hills, Afr. 
WW j i b rarely 
Tubers oblong (5-6 ft., Ic. Thwaites). Stem slender, prickly at the base, e 
above, often bulbiferous. Leaves as in D. tomentosa, but never softly tomentr. 
obovate, acuminate or cuspidate. Male panicles and flowers glabrous hisp! d 
pubescent or villous, spikes lax or dense-fld.; flowers sessile or pedicelled, Te d . 
diam, fragrant; filaments and staminodes very short. Capsule i-l in., Pen 
at both ends or base cordate and tip apiculate, glabrous or pubescent. Seeds i nd 
wing broader than the nucleus.—I cannot separate the glabrous tomentose A 
villous-flowered plants, or the sessile- from the pedicelled-flowered. A sb ass 
Bombay specimen from Ritchie has almost woolly capsules cordate at the , 
and with a strong short beak at the retuse apex. 
A D. kumaonensis, Kunth Enum. v. 395; leaves Ce 
nearly glabrous or sparsely hairy beneath, bracts long-acuminate El 
than the flowers. D. pentaphylla, Wall. Cat. 5098 E. D. triphylla, : 
Cat. 5702 B. F. Vitis, Wall. Cat. 9032. 
TEMPERATE HIMALAYA, alt. 4-6000 ft. from Kashmir to Sikkim. The Ku4stá 
and MuUNNEPORE Hrs, alt. 5—6000 ft. . lender, 
Very near D. pentaphylla, but a plant of temperate regions, and more oe 
with pisiform bulbils, more membranous narrower leaflets with long Lem 
points, larger longer more pointed bracts, larger flowers ;4—-j5 in. diam. with 
staminodes and pistillode; but there are Garwhal specimens from Edgewor blong, 
bracts as short and flowers as small as in pentaphylla. Capsule 3 in. “with 8 
rounded at both ends.—A state occurs in both the Himalaya and Khasia der? 
much-branched panicle bearing imperfect long-pedicelled flowers with very et 
quite glabrous sepals and petals, abortive anthers, and sometimes a large Pet 
stigma; the bracts in this are at the base of the pedicel which is an imp 
ovary. 
. l 
5. D. Jacquemontii, Hook. f.; leaves 3-5-foliolate, leaflets we) 
acuminate glabrous, flowers much larger than in D. pentaphylla ga 
and short bracts both streaked with brown. 
The Concan, between Poona and Carli, Jacquemont ; Belgaum, Richie. stamens, 
Closely allied to D. pentaphylla, but besides the above differences, the 
staminodes and pistillodes are all much longer. 
B. Leaves simple. 
. “PROS; 
Secr. III. Sepals broadly oblong or orbicular. Stamens 3, antherifero 
anther-cells remote on the arms of a forked connective. 
. sl. 
6. D. Collettii, Hook. f.—Diosc. sp. indescript., Collet & Hen 
in Journ, Linn. Soc, xxviii. 137. 
Burma ; Shan Hills, alt. 4000 ft., Collett. t 4-5 b 
Quite glabrous. Branches slender, terete, unarmed. Leaves, larger 9.]obed 
3-3} in., broadly ovate-cordate, acuminate, 7-9-nerved from the deep » spikes 
base, membranous, reticulate, basal lobes rounded; petiole slender. Male 1 
axillary, solitary, longer than the leaves, very slender ; flowers Je in. diam., dly elliptic 
clusters; bracts very broad, membranous; sepals orbicular-ovate and broa V + stant 
petals flat, with rounded tips; stamens inserted on the base of the Ram ^ui 
from the minute 3-toothed staminode; filaments very short; anther-o sepa 
globose.—Dries black. The only Asiatic species with forked filaments an 
anther-cells. 
, theri- 
Sect. IV. Sepals broadly oblong or orbicular. Stamens 6, an 
