Tas. 6154. 
THEROPOGON PALLIDUS. 
Native of the Himalaya Mountains. 
Nat. Ord. Littaceam.—Tribe SmiLaces. 
Genus TuERopogon, (Maxim. in Bull. Acad. St. Petersb., vol. xv. p. 89). 
TueERopoGon pallidus ; glaberrimus, cespitosus, foliis distichis erecto-recurvis’ 
gramineis acutis planis 1-3-nerviis basi membranaceo-vaginatis, scapis 
erectis foliis brevioribus strictis angulatis ancipitibus v. 2—3-alatis, 
racemis erectis vix nutantibus 6—16-floris, bracteis linearibus acutis 
viridibus pedicellis nudis curvis brevioribus, floribus nutantibus cam- 
panulatis pallide roseis cum pedicello articulatis, peranthii segmentis 
ovatis, filamentis brevibus dilatatis antheris acutis latioribus, ovarii 
globosi loculis 6—10-ovulatis, stylo stricto, stigmate punctiforme, bacca 
pisiformi oligosperma, seminibus compressis, testa tenuissima albumini 
corneo adherente. 
T. pallidus, Maxim. 1. ¢. 
Opniorocon? pallidus, Wall. Cat., 2138; Kunth. Enum., vol. v. p. 300. 
?'O. mollis, Royle Ill., 382 (nomen tantum). 
O. brevifolius, Royle Herb. 
A very common Himalayan plant, from Kumaon, alt. 6000 
feet, to Nepal and Sikkim, in which latter county it ascends 
to 10,000 feet; also common in the Khasia mountains, where 
it is found at 5-6000 feet towards the tops of the hills. It 
prefers mossy rocks, and the bases of old trees, when the roots 
run rather superficially in the loose soil. 
This plant was long regarded as a doubtful Ophiopogon, 
from which its soft habit at once distinguishes it, a character 
that makes me suspect that it is Royle’s O. mollis, a plant of 
which no authentic specimens are known to exist, except the 
plant called drevifolius in Mss. Herb. (at Kew), and which 
is not alluded to in his Himalayan Botany, be the same. 
From Ophiopogon it farther differs in its annual foliage, ber- 
ried fruit, broad filaments, free base of the ovary, many ovules, 
the seed not being exposed by the rupture of the pericarp, as 
in that genus, and the excessively thin adherent testa. 
MARCH Ist, 1875. 
