A ItEVISIOX or THE INDIAN SPECIES OE IIOTALA. 70r, 



petals, and tho i>liints arc, in addition, stibmergcd and abundantly moting 

 at tho nodos, a habit which has not bi uu observed in Ji. rcrticillavi^. 



Decussate loaves are more common in Indian specimens than ternate 

 ones, and tho llowers have usually got "2 stamfens. The necteriferoiis scales, 

 if present, are very obscure. 



Wo have compared two foreign specimens with the Indian material. 



10. Mexico : State of Chihuahua, Sept. 1887 (Pringle. No. 1 ;K)") !). This 

 is almost identical with No. 7, although the leaves are slightly longer and 

 more acute. 



17. North Korea, Aug. 1897 (Komarov, No. 1128 I). This is a somewhat 

 larger plant than No. 4, but otherwise very much like it. The capsule, 

 however, is o-valved, and the leaves l?-4-nate. 



2. Jiotala occultijiora, Koehne iu Engler"s Bot. Jahrb. I (1S80) lo2, et in 

 Engl. Pdanzenr, iv, I'lO (U)03) 30. 



Plant eroct or ascending, red-brown or green, o-lO cm. long, simple or 

 sparsely branched. Stem trigonous, coriaers rounded. Leaves 3-nate, the 

 lowest opposite, linear, subauriculate at the base, ■'>-\'2 mm. long and 1 mm. 

 broad, sessile, spreading, recurved. 



iJracteoles '2, about 6 mm. long, 3 times as long as the capsule, enclosing 

 the latter from two opposite sides, leaving the two other sides, free, 

 meeting above the ovary and then spreading, green, thick leathery, 

 lanceolate-acuminate, boat-shaped, generally bimucronnlate. Flowers 

 •"-morous: calyx membranous, teeth triangular-acuminate, a little shorter 

 than the bell-shaped tube. Petals none. Stamens ;'>, anthers large. Ova.ry 

 almost globose, slightly 3-lobed and a little depressed on top. Style very 

 short ; stigma capitate. 



Capsule 2-3-valved, broadly ovoid, not quite 3 mm. long. Seeds black, 

 twice as long as broad, thickest in the middle, on one long side straight, 

 flat, on the opposite long one rounded, ends rounded, surface minutely 

 striate. 



Habitat : Malabar, Konkan (Herb. Hook. f. and Th. !) ; Bombay Presi- 

 dency : Bombay Lsland, at Sion (Blatt. and Hall. No. 3277 !) ; Salsette 

 between Andheri and Marol in rice fields (Blatt. and Hall. No. 3303 !) : 

 Igatpuri (Blatt. and Hall. No. 3304 ! 3279 !) ; Khandalla (Blatt. and Hall. 

 No. 3278 !);N. Kanara : Yellapore, Oct. 1884. Nov. 188-"> (Talbot. No. 

 1036! 1332!) ; Mysore: Shi-moga, 2-3000', Oct. 1908 (Meebold. No. 10281!) 



This is a very distinct species, and it is strange that it should have been 

 overlooked both by C. B. Clarke and T. Cooke. 



Koehne's var. ji. Leichhardtii (in Engl. Bot. .Jahrb, iv (188-3) 387) cannot 

 be retained as a distinct variety. The leaves of Talbot's specimen from N 

 Kanara are linear, not plicate, with the base very slightly dilated and the 

 midrib less thickened on the back. The bracteoles are linear-lanceolate 

 flat, thin, obtuse. This plant must be considered as a transition form 

 between the typical plant and Koehne's variety. 



3. Rotala vevticillaru , L. Mant. (1771) 17o,excl. ic. IJheed. : DC. Prodr. 

 Ill (1828) 76 ; Wight Ic. I (1838-40) t. 260, f. A ; Dalz. and (iibs, Bombay 

 Flora (1861) 96 ; Khoene in Pflanzenr, iv, 216 (1903) 30.— 7i'. verticillata, 

 Koem. and Schult, Syst. I (1817) 521. R. petaloidea, Wight ex Steud. 

 Nom. ed. 2, II (184) 474, sec. Ind. Kew.—Ayn'.nannia rotala Clarke in 

 Hook f . Fl. Brit. Ind. II (1879) 567, non F. Muell. : Cooke Fl. Bomb. 

 Fres. I (1903) 507. 



Stems rooting, 5-15 cm. long, branching, angular in the upper part. Leaves 

 4-8-nate, linear, cuneate at the base, rarely oblanceolate or nearly oblong, 

 3-10 mm. long, O'S — 1, rarely 2-5 mm. broad, retuse or bimucronulate, the 

 submerged ones (if present) narrower than the emerged ones. 



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