Flania^v. Tbtrandhia monogy^ia^ 421 



PLAlSTAGO. Schreh. Gen. N. 186. 



Cah/x four-cleft. Carol four-cleft, with border rellexed. Slamina 

 •ver)' long. Capsule superior, two-celled, cut transversely. 



1. P. Tspaghitla, R. — Fleming in Asiat. Res. xi. 174. 



Annual, caulescent. Xecrres linear- lanceolar, three-nerved, slightly 

 M'oolly. Peduncles axillary, naked, simple, length of the leaves; 

 heads cylindric. Capsules two-celled. 



Ispagool, the Ilindee and Persian name, and that by which it is 

 most generally known in Bengal and on the coast of Coromandel. 



Kative place uncertain, but it is cultivated during the cool season. 



Root ranious, annual.— S^f^w, if any, very short, soon dividing 

 into three or four ascending, round, villous branches, which are a few 

 inches in length. — Leaves alternate, linear-lanceolate, three-nerved, 

 luxuriant, in young plants remotely denticulate, somewhat v/oolly, to- 

 ward the base channelled, and stem-clasping ; length from six to eight 

 inches by a quarter or half an inch hrond.— Peduncles axillary, solitary, 

 naked, erect, rotmd, a little villous, the length of the leaves. — Spikes 

 solitaiy, teruiiual, before the flowers expand ovate, afterwards cylin- 

 dric ; when in seed about an inch or an inch and a half long and erect. 

 —Floz.eis numerous, imbricated, small, dull, white, withering — 

 Bracfes one- flowered, ovate, concave, with the keel green, and the 

 sides membranaceous.— Cfl/j/.r four-leaved. Leaflets oblong, ovate, 

 with broad membranaceous margins. — Coral. Tube gibbous. Seg- 

 ments ovate, acute.— Filaments oblong, two-celled, four, much larger 

 than the segments of the corol.— Germ oblong, two-celled, with one 

 seed in each, attached to the middle of the partition. Sti/le rather 

 longer than the corol. Stigma subulate, villous.— Ccfpsu/e circum- 

 scissa, ovate, two-celled.— Seec?5 solitary, ovate-elliptic, convex on 

 the outside ; concave on the inner. Lntegument single, rather thick, 

 smooth, tough, and hro\xn.—Perisperm conform to the seed.— Ew- 

 hyo sub-cylindric, erect. Cotyledon long, linear. Radicle mferior, 

 one-fourth the length of the cotyledon. 



Ohs. Fronj the seeds a mucilaginous drink is prepared, and often 



