BY THE REV. J. E. TENISON-WOODS, F.G.S., F.L.S. 73 



P. ramosa M'Coy. loc. cit. Stem branched smooth or striated, 

 sheaths half the length of the internodes, leaves thin linear flat, 

 twice to three times the length of the sheath, with a very fine 

 indistinct midrib. 



The specimens figured by M'Coy had branches arising from 

 nearly every joint. He states that the stems were perfectly 

 smooth, being striated only at the joints with a delicate striation 

 in some species down the internodes. Subsequent examination of 

 many specimens has not confirmed this distinction. The stems are 

 always striated, but the appearance of this seems to depend entirely 

 on the state of preservation. 



P. hooheri M'Coy loc. cit. PI. xi. fig. 4, 5, 6, 7. Stem simple 

 coarsely sulcated and ridged longitudinally ; sheaths very large, 

 loose, subinfundibuliform, each sheath extending from one articu- 

 lation to the next, so as to conceal the stem, leaves about twice 

 the length of the sheaths, thick, narrow, with a strong prominent 

 midrib. 



" This species, says the author, is easily known from the two 

 former by its great loose sac-like sheath, completely concealing the 

 stem, its long, thick, strongly ribbed leaves and by its stem when 

 stripped of its sheath being coarsely and regularly sulcated, 

 precisely as in Catamites cistii. Although abundant, I have never 

 seen the trace of a branch. Some of the flattened stems attain a 

 width of two inches." 



A large collection of specimens shows such gradations of one 

 form into another of all these species that it becomes impossible to 

 separate them. P. hooheri is no more than a luxuriant growth of 

 P. australis, and possesses no character which is not attributable to 

 mere richness of growth. 



It should be remarked that the plant has been quoted from a 

 great number of places where the identification has been made from 

 stems alone. This is very misleading. Dr. O. Feistmantel has 

 been careful to point out* that without leaves it is always 

 unsafe to make any such identification. He says — " There occur 



* Paleon, Indica. Foss. Fl. vol 3. Damuda and Panchet Div. p. 63* 



