400 DK. A. B. KEXDLE— SYSTEMATIC 



Caunnia indica, WiUd. in Mem. Acad. Roy. Sc. Eerl. 1798, 89, t. 1. fig. 3, ct Sp. PI. iv. 182 (1805) ; 



Sprcng. Syst. i. 20 (1825). 

 Flitriahs indica, Pers. Syn, ii. 530 (1807). 



I.axa, caulibus tenuissimis, sscpe fi]iformi])us ; foliis angustissime linearibus, superne 



attenuatis, ssepe setaceis, apice ssepe bispinulato, margine vakle dentato, dentibus 



triangiilis patentibns vel ascendentibus, laminae latitudinem saepius sequantibas vel 



superautibus ; vaginis angustis, in auriculas fimbriatas productis, vel subtruncatis, 



vel late rotundatis et conspicue paucidentatis ; squamulis intravaginalibus anguste 



subulatis vel ebasi latiore acuminatis ; /orzfiw^ sol itariissubsessilibus, spatha mascula 



ellipsoidea in collum tenue cum ore irregulariter dentato et utrinque processu lineari 



spinifero instructo, superne angustata ; antliera quadriloculari ; spatlia feminca 



anguste ellipsoidea cum collo breviter cylindrico et ore sj)inifero, ovario spathse 



conformi, stylo ])revi a stigmatibus duobus insequalibus terminato ; fructu parvo 



ellipsoideo spatha persistente incluso; semine pericarpio conformi, testa cum areolis 



quadratis minutis numerosis lineata. 



Leaves 2 to 3 cm. long by scarcely '5 mm. broad ; margin with 10 to 17 large teeth, 



often as long as, or longer than, the leaf-width, and consisting of subequilateral or 



obtusely triangular projections of the margin ending in a spine. Sheath narrow, 2'5 to 



4 mm. long; form of upper margin variable: the original specimen {Caulinia indica, 



Willd. ! in Herb. Berlin) markedly auricled, the auricles breaking up into a few one- to 



several-toothed portions ; in other cases almost truncate or even broadly rounded, the 



shoulder bearing a few (4 to 6) prominent teeth. On the same shoot may be found 



almost truncate sheaths, and others with well-marked auricles. 



Male flowers 3-75 mm. long, spathe narrowed above into a slender neck ending in an 

 irregularly toothed mouth, which is generally drawn out into two opposite long linear 

 prolongations ending in one or two spines ; perianth fitting closely to the ellipsoidal 

 anther and meeting above its apex in two thickened lips. Dehiscence occurs by elonga- 

 tion of the flower-stalk inside the spathe, which becomes laterally split above, the anther, 

 still enveloped by the perianth, becoming raised on a long slender stalk, equal to its own 

 length ; the lips of the perianth become reflexed and the anther dehisces at the top. 

 Pollen-grains somewhat irregularly shaped, and often hexagonal after dehiscence. 

 7v //;r//^y?6i?(;^r5 3 to 3-25 mm. long, sj)athe passing above into a neck about ^ to ^ its 

 whole length, the mouth bearing c^hort brown spines ; the short cylindrical style ends in 

 two unequal stigmas, one of which is seen protruding through the perianth. 



Fruit 2 mm. long. Seed yellow or brown, with 25 to 30 rows of well-marked fairly 

 isodiametrical quadrate areolae, which rapidly become narrower on and near the raphe. 

 India — Bengal, Behar {Ilook.f. 4'- Thomson), Jynuggur {Clarke, no. 7540) ; Tranque- 

 bar {Klein in Herb. AYilld. no. 17092), (Soc. Unit. Fratr. 1778, in Herb. 

 Mus. Brit.). 



3. Najas Schweinpurthii, Magnus in Ber. Heutsch. Bot. (ics. xii. (1894) 220. 

 (PI. XL. figs. 64-67.) 

 Planta ut videtur parva, caulibus filiformibus, ramulis ultimis dense foliatis ; foliis 

 lineari-angustatis graciliter subrecurvatis, margine dentibus ascendentibus sub- 



