498 MONOECIA MONANDRIA, Arum, 
lobed. In short, a very perfect rum, or Caladium accord- 
ing to Ventenat. a 
6. A. Indicum. Lour. Cochin Ch, 655. 
Caulescent, erect. eaves cordate, base bifid; lobes ap- 
proximate and rounded. Spadix cylindric, equalling the 
linear, boat-shaped, spathe. Club cylindric, longer than the 
rest of the spadix. 
Beng. Man-Kuchoo. 
Man-guri, a variety with the petioles of the leaves darker 
coloured. 
A native of various parts of South Asia. In Bengal it is 
much cultivated about the huts of the natives, for its escu- 
lent stems, and small pendulous bulbs, or tubers, these being 
very generally eaten by people of all ranks, in their curries, 
- &e. Flowering time the close of the rains, and beginning of 
the cool season. 
Root fibrous, with numerous suckers intermixed, particu- 
larly near the surface of the soil, these end in little solid, edi- 
ble bulbs, by which the plant is most readily and abundantly 
multiplied ; numerous, thick, fleshy, radical fibres also issue 
from all the lower part of the stems. Stems from one to two 
feet in circumference, simple, various in length according 
to age, but are rarely found more than a foot, or eighteen 
inches to the leaves, as they are seldom suffered to attain to 
their full size, which from what I have seen, and the informa- 
tion I have been able to obtain, may be from six to eight feet. 
Leaves on erect, long petioles, cordate, bifid at the base, with 
the lobes approximated, and rounded ; apex also rounded, 
with a bent down, dagger-shaped point, nindoeth on both sides ; 
margin waved ; from two to three feet long, strongly marked, 
underneath an elevated whitish rib, and simple veins of the 
same colour, Petioles the length of, or longer than the 
leaves, smooth, the lower part sheathing, the upper round 
and tapering a little, transversely clouded, particularly the 
variety called Man-guri, Flowers axillary and always in 
