Melanthacee.} THE HIMALAYAN MOUNTAINS. 385 
A species of Tojfieldia, T. nepalensis, is enumerated by Dr.Wallich in his Catalogue, 
No. 5097, as being found in Nepal. I have found the same plant (or at least one 
which is the same with the specimens in flower, and pasted on the same sheet with, 
but which may belong to a different plant from, those in seed), on Mussooree in 
flower in the rainy season, but it does not belong to this family. (v. Ophiopogon.) 
Tricyrtis and Disporum are Himalayan genera. The former, containing but one species, — 
T. elegans, figured by Dr.Wallich in his Tent. Fl. Nep. t. 46, (Compsoa maculata, Don,) 
was found on Chundraghiry and Sheopore, in Nepal. It does not seem to extend 
further to the north-west. 
Uvularia is a N. American genus, with some doubtful species in Japan, and others, 
which are referred both to it and to the genus Disporum ; but this being little distin- 
guished from Uvularia, all the species have been referred to the latter by Dr.Wallich ; 
as U. Hamiltoniana, from the mountains of Silhet, Nepal and Sirmore; in the 
two latter also occur U. umbellata (Streptopus peduncularis, Smith), and -U. parviflora. 
A species is likewise found on the Neelgherries. Professor Don is of opinion, that 
the Indian Uvularia are clearly referable to Disporum, distinguished by its baccate 
fruit, with the cells containing only one or two seeds. The sepals a are also more or less 
calcarate at the base, and the inflorescence umbellate. _ | bit 
No other genera have as yet been found on the Himalayas, though among my draw- 
ings there is one of a plant which has all the characters of Veratrum, but of which the 
specimen has unfortunately been mislaid ; but there is nothing improbable i in the genus 
occurring there like so many other European, Caucasian, and Siberian genera. 
The Melanthacee, though differing considerably in habit, resemble each other very 
closely in properties, for which some have been employed as medicines from ancient 
times, as Colchicum autumnale and Veratrum album. Others have been added in 
modern times, as Veratrum Sabadilla and Helonias officinalis, which yield the Cevadilla 
seeds of commerce ; the former, those brought from the West-Indies, and the latter, 
the Mexican seeds, which are officinal in the London Pharmacopeia. In all, the alkali 
Veratria, pomerable far its as as is found. From britates § the aoe membrane, 
But, like other violent acting \ bstan K os, i 
made useful as a medicine, and has re ageage especial out and 
yorysnov of the Greeks, as well as their eP<ucpo, are: e- thought by many to be species of 
— Colchicum; the former, C. autumnale, and the latter, either C. variegatum, or C. illy- 
ricum. But other authors conceive that the Hermodactyls of old. authors was either 
Convallaria verticillata or Iris tuberosa, &e. The Arabs usually ¢ confound them together ; : 
Serapion, however, treats of the two kinds in two different chapters ; ; but Avicenna 
describes both under the name sorinjan, which is_ translated Hermodactylus, and for 
which asaba (finger) hurmas is occasionally given as a synonyme. In Persian works, 
we have kulchikum, fuljikum and ekemaron as the Greek synonymes of sorinjan, which 
3D are 
