TYPHONIUM. 



the fertile ones. Anthers distinct, 2-celled ; cells on each side 

 opening by a complete cleft. Ovaries free, with one erect ovule 

 in each attached to the base of the cell. Stigmas sessile, ob- 

 tuse. Berries 1 -seeded. 



1283. T. trilobatum Blume Rumphia i. 132. — Arum triloba- 

 tum Linn. sp. pi. 1369. Lam. encycl. iii. 10. A. orixense 

 Roxb.fi. ind. iii. 504. Bot. Rep. t. 356'. Bot. Reg. t. 450. — 

 Various parts of the East Indies. 



Tubers nearly round, the size of a pullet's egg, white, with small ine- 

 qualities, having many fibres issuing from the apex. Leaves radical, 

 stalked, deeply 3-lobed ; lobes ovate, pointed, a little scolloped, smooth ; 

 about 8 or 10 inches broad, and the same length; round the under side, 

 parallel with the margins and near it runs a double nerve. Petioles 

 erect, round, tapering, striated, about 12 inches long, sheathing, and 

 embracing one another at the base. Scape axillary, very short, just 

 sufficiently long to elevate the spathe above the ground. Spathe shorter 

 than the petioles, striated, erect ; the inside red ; the outside herba- 

 ceous. Spadix, at the base surrounded with ovaries, crowned with 

 many yellow, branched filaments ; the middle covered with anthers, 

 above which there is no second set of rudimentary processes ; apex 

 scarlet, as long as all the rest of the spadix, erect, tapering, subulate, 

 from a concave broad base, to a point which is neither obtuse nor 

 sharp. — The tubers when fresh are exceedingly acrid. The natives of 

 India use them in poultices to disperse or bring forward scirrhous 

 tumours. They also apply them externally to the bite of venomous 

 snakes, at the same time giving inwardly about the size of a field bean. 

 It is certainly a most powerful stimulant, in proper hands. Roxb. 



DRACONTIUM. 



Spathe cymbiform. Spadix cylindrical, quite covered with c/ 1 

 flowers. Perianth 7-9-parted. Stamens 7-9, with oblong, 

 2-celled anthers, opening obliquely by a pore at the apex, and 

 distinct from their filaments. Ovary 2-3-celled, each cell con- 

 taining 1 pendulous ovule. Berry 1-3-seeded. Seeds without 

 albumen. 



1284. D. polyphyllum Linn. sp. pi. 1372. Willd. sp. pi. 

 ii. 288. Bot Reg. t. 700. — Guayana, Surinam, and elsewhere 

 in equinoctial America. (Labaria.) 



Tuber resembling a small cake, producing 1 or 2 leaves, with long 

 clouded spotted petioles resembling the skin of a snake. Leaves them- 

 selves supra-decompound, pedate, with the segments pinnatifid, distant, 

 and with oblong, acute strongly veined lobes. Spathe large, purple, very 

 deep-coloured inside, hooded, acute, appearing after the leaves have 

 withered ; smelling so powerfully upon the first opening, that vomiting 

 and fainting sometimes ensue from the stench. Linnaeus says " olfa- 

 ciente attonitos redderet et catalepticos." — This is one of the remedies 

 used in Guayana against the bite of the Labarri snake, which its spotted 

 leafstalks resemble in colour; no doubt it is a powerful stimulant. 

 Ainslie says the prepared tuber is supposed in India to be antispasmodic, 

 603 



