Xyris. TRIANDRIA MONOGYNIA, 179 
I: X. indica, Linn. sp. pl. ed. Willd. 1. 254. 
_ Leaves ensiform. Heads globular ; scales round. 
Kotsjiletti-pullu, Rheed. Mal. 9. p. 139. t. 71. 
Beng. Cheena ghauza. Dabi dooba. 7 : 
Grows on a low clayey soil, over many parts of ee 
del, and Bengal. Flowering time November and popaler. 
Seeds ripen in January and February. : 
Root fibrous, annual, Leaves radical, bifarious, otal, 
sword-shaped, on one edge slit into a sheath for the scape, 
pointed, smooth; from six to twelve inches long. Scape 
naked, round, striated, erect, length of the leaves, each sup- 
porting a round, flower-bearing head. Flowers a beautiful 
bright yellow. | Bractes, or scales one-flowered, orbicular, 
concave, hard, smooth. Calyx three-leaved, hid within the 
scale, membranous. Petals three, each supported, on an 
unguis just long enough to raise their expanding, oval, 
crenate borders above the scales, Nectary, three filaments 
inserted, alternately with the petals, round the base of the 
germ ; apex two-cleft, each division ending: ina pencil of fine 
yellow hairs ; adhering firmly at the cleft to the edges of the 
petals, near the. apex of the claws. . Filaments three, short, 
broad, erect, inserted on the inside of the apex of the claws of 
the petals,-_.Anthers twin, erect, united by a continuation, of 
the filament. Germ superior, three-sided, Style length of 
the claws of the petals, from thence three-cleft._ Stigma torn, 
Capsule three-valved, one-celled. Seeds numerous, aches 
to.a heel down the inside of each ‘valve. 
Obs. The following account of the virtues of this plant I 
have been favoured with, by the Honourable John Hyde, 
who informs me that “the natives of Bengal esteem ita plant 
of great value, because they think it an easy, speedy, and 
certain cure for the troublesome irruption called ring worms.” 
This accords. with what Van Rhoedeap r yof it,,at page 139 
scene Mila eladies Sonpotipiassneciatin. Folia cum Ta~ 
dice oleo incocta contra lepram sumuntur, ig 
L2 
*. 
