Tas. 770g. 
COLOCASIA antiquorum, var. Fonranusit. 
Native of Tropical Asia. 
Nat. Ord. Aracka#.—Tribe CoLocasiza&. 
Genus Cotocasra, Schott; (Benth. & Hook. f. Gen. Plant. vol. iii. p. 974.) 
Cotocasta Antiquorum, var. Fontanesii; rhizomate brevi carnoso vix tuberoso, 
turionibus bipedalibus, foliis 1-2-pedalibus cordato-ovatis v.- oblongis 
acutis v. cuspidatis saturate viridibus marginibus nervisque violaceis 
subtus pallidis, petiolo 3-5-pedali scapo que breviore et robustiore rubro- 
purpureis v. violaceis, spathz tubo 3-pollicari 1} poll. diam. oblongo- 
cylindraceo rubro-purpureo collo aureo, lamina aperta 10-pollicari 4 poll. 
lata oblonga caudato-acuminata primulina, spadicis appendice parvo 
conico, inf. masc. quam foem. paullo longiore neut. foom. subsquilonga, 
ovariis minutissimis. 
2 Gy antiquorum, var. Fontanesii, Schott Syn. Aroid. p. 42. Prodr. Syst. 
Aroid, p. 140. Engl. in DC. Monogr. Phanerog. vol. ii. p. 491. 
©. Fontanesii, Schott in Gistr. Bot. Wochenbl. 1854, p. 409. K. Koch in 
Berlin. Aligem. Gartenzeit. 1858, p. 362. ; 
C. violacea, Hort. 
Caladium colocasioides, Hort. Par. ex Brongn. in Nouv. Ann. Mus, Par. 
vol. iii. (1834) p. 156. Kunth Enum. Pl. vol. iii. p. 43. 
C. violaceum, Hort. ew Engl. l.c. p. 492. 
Arum colocasioides, Desf. Cat. Hort. Par., pp. 7 et 385. 
Colocasia antiquorum, figured at t. 7364 of this work, is 
an exceedingly variable plant, of which four forms (in- 
eluding Arum nymphezifolium) are considered by Roxburgh 
to be indigenous in India, and two or three others are cul- 
tivated. Engler enumerates seven varieties, distinguished 
chiefly by the length of the suckers given off from the 
tuber, the length of the appendix of the spadix and the 
colour of the leaves and petioles. 
That here figured, which was named C. Fontanesit by 
Schott, was founded on the Arum colocasioides of Desfon- 
taines, who gives the following character, ‘ Affine A. colo- 
casiz, petioli violacei seque ac Colocasia, differt lobis 
posticis productioribus, nervis violaceis, venulis pagine 
inferioris paucioribus nec arcuatim patentibus ut in Colo- 
casia. Non floruit.”” According to Schott it differs from 
OC. antiquorum proper in the shortness of the suckers, 
violet petioles, and more oblong, obscurely green blade of 
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