498 MONOECIA MONANDKIA. AnWl. 



lobed. Ill short, a very perfect ^^rum, or Caladium accord- 

 ing to Ventenat. 



6. A. hidicum. Lour. Cochin Ch. 655. 



Caulescent, erect. Leaves cordate, base bifid ; lobes ap- 

 proximate and rounded. Spadix cylindric, equalling the 

 linear, boat-shaped, spathe. C/ub cylindric, longer than the 

 rest of the spadix. 



Beng. Man-Kuchoo. 



Man-guri, a variety with the petioles of the leaves darker 

 coloured. 



A native of various parts of South Asia. In Bengal it is 

 much cultivated about the huts of the natives, for its escu- 

 lent stems, and small pendulous bulbs, or tubers, these being 

 very generally eaten by people of all ranks, in their curries, 

 &c. Flowering- time the close of the rains, and beg-inninof of 

 the cool season. 



Root fibrous, with numerous suckers intermixed, particu- 

 larly near the surface of the soil, these end in little solid, edi- 

 ble bulbs, by which the plant is most readily and abundantly 

 multiplied ; numerous, thick, fleshy, radical fibres also issue 

 from all the lower part of the stems. Stems from one to two 

 feet in circumference, simple, various in length according 

 to age, but are rarely found more than a foot, or eighteen 

 inches to the leaves, as they are seldom sufi'ered to attain to 

 their full size, which from what 1 have seen, and the informa- 

 tion I have been able to obtain, may be from six to eight feet. 

 Leaves on erect, long petioles, cordate, bifid at the base, with 

 the lobes approximated, and rounded ; apex also rounded, 

 with a bent down, dagger-shaped point, smooth on both sides ; 

 margin waved ; from two to three feet long, strongly marked, 

 underneath an elevated whitish rib, and simple veins of the 

 same colour. Petioles the length of, or longer than the 

 leaves, smooth, the lower part sheathing, the upper round 

 and tapering a little, transversely clouded, particularly the 

 variety called Man-guri. Flowers axillary and always in 



