. 
800 DIOECIA HEXANDRIA. Dioscorea, 
late point, five to seven-nerved, smooth, glossy green above, 
paler underneath, | Petioles stem-clasping, winged, as in 
the other species. Male and female spikes, as in the last 
described. 
B.D. atropurpurea, R. 
Tubers sub-rotund, purple throughout, Stems annual, 
_ twining, four-winged, wings coloured and curled. Leaves 
profoundly cordate, from five to seven-nerved, 
This is the species so extensively cultivated at Malacca, 
Pegu, and the eastern islands, The tubers are very large, of 
an irregular, smooth, roundish shape, and growing so néar the 
surface of the earth, as to appear in dry weather through the 
cracks that they make by raising the soil over them. This, 
and the very deep colour of the yarn, renders it readily 
distinguished ; the stems and branches are sometimes as far 
as six or seven-winged, but four is general, The petioles are 
also winged, much enlarged at the base, and stem-clasping. 
6. D. aculeata, Roxb. 
_Tubers oblong, pendulous, the fibres of the proper roots 
become spinous, Leaves reniform-cordate, acute, from five 
to seven-nerved, ; 
Cumbilium. Rumph. Amb. v. p, 357, t. 126. one of his va- 
rieties thereof is no doubt this very plant; but Katta Kelan- 
gu, Rheed, Mal. vii, t. 37. ia f00, gee gee igaid @ibe 
quoted, ! 
“oe native of Bengal. “The roots is which are of an oval fori, 
and ; erally about two pounds, or more in weight, are de- 
ier white, and during the cool season, dug up in the 
woods, for it. jis not cultivated, and carried for sale to the 
market at Calcutta, where they are known to the natives 
by. the name Mou-aloo, In habit it resembles much the 
species I have called D A ipiget ne Soosni-aloo of the 
rere’) 
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