2 MONANDRiA MOXOGYNiA. Phrtfrtium. 



1. p. dichofomum. R. 



Shrubby, dichotomous. Leaves cordate. 



Thalia cannaformis. Linn. sp. pi. ed. IV Hid. 1. l6. 



Arundastrum. Tonchat seytam. Rumph. dmb. 4. p. 22. t, 7. 



Donax Arundastrum. Lourier. Cochin-ch. 15. 



Sans. ^^T, Vu]a, ftl^m^I Godumka, ^"^r^ Bhudra, i^%I^«ft, 

 Bhitdroudwnee, ^fC^^tf^^T, Shwrakasthika, ^^lf«l«^t, Kidyamnee, 

 3T^^T, Bhudra-hula, ^Ic^T, Ghata, m€\, Patee, ^^^T, Vula- 

 hwa. 



Seng. Moocta-patee, Pattee-patee,* or Madar-patee. 



This elegant shrub, is a native oi Bengal, as well as of various 

 other parts of India, &c. Flowering time the hot season ; seeds ripen 

 in the rains. 



Root ramous, woody, perennial. — Stems straight, tapering and 

 simple to the branches, about as thick as a man's thumb, and from 

 three to five, or six feet high, of a beautiful, highly polished green 

 colour. Branches numerdus, dichotomous spreading in every di- 

 rection, smooth like the stem, but jointed at every division. — Leaves 

 alternate, petioled, ovate-cordate, smooth, entire, acute, from 4 to 

 8 inches long; veins numerous, very fine and parallel. — Petioles 

 sheathing, except a small portion, one tenth, or less, at the apex, 

 which is round, and may be called the proper petiole. — Racemes 

 terminal, generally solitary, jointed, a little flexuous. — Bractes glu- 

 maceous, in pairs on the joints of the raceme, each pair embracing 

 between them a two-flowered pedicel. — Flowers pair'd, on a com- 

 mon pedicel, from the alternate joints of the rachis, large, pure 

 white. — Pedicels clavate, thick, white, and fleshy, near the apex two- 

 parted ; divisions unequal, with two glands at their ends like the rudi- 

 ments of flowers. — Calyx above, three-leaved; /eo^efs oblong-conic, 



* "Mats made of the split stems of this plant, being smooth, and particularly cool, 

 *' and refreshing, are termed in Hindi Sital-pati, which signilies a cool maty whence the 

 ** plant itself is said to bear the same name. Suspecting, however, this to be a misap- 

 *' propriatiou of the term, I have enquired of natives of the eastern parts of Betigal, 

 "who assure me, that the plant is named Mufta-pata, or Fatti-pata, aod the in?tt only 

 !i'is called Sital-pati." Cokbrooke, 



