675 



DESCRIPTION OF A NEW AN BROS ACE. 



From the North-Western Himalaya. 



By J. F. DuTHiE. 



{Read before the Bombay Natural History Society, on l%th Sept., 1899.) 



ANDROSACE FRAGILIS, n. sp. 



Pereunial. Whole plant excessivel}' glaDdular, viscid. Petioles, 

 peduncles and pedicels very slender and brittle. Leaves all radical ; 

 petioles f to 2^ in. in length ; blade usually broader than long, ^ to 1| 

 in. wide and fo to | in. from base to apex, sub-orbicular or reniform 

 cordate, deeply lobed, thinly cartilaginous, dark green above, the lower 

 surface reddish-brown turning to bright red, glistening on both surfaces ; 

 veins prominent ; lobes extending almost to the centre of the blade, over- 

 Japping at their apiees, usually 3-crenate. Peduncles far exceeding the 

 leaves, 3| to 4| in. long, usually curving upwards from the base, densely 

 clothed with short silky hairs and shorter glandular ones ; pedicels | to 

 1\: in., spreading. Bracts obovate or spathulate, cuneate, often trifid at 

 the apex; veins distinct. Calyx broa'Uy campanulate, deeply lobed, 

 enlarging in fruit ; lobes oblong or obovate, cuspidate, prominently 

 veined. Corolla slightly exceeding the calyx when in flower, deeply lobed, 

 limb at first pure white, turring pink and afterwards to bright crimson, 

 lobes obovate, bifid : tube short, globular, greenish. Stamens on 

 very short filaments, attached to the corolla-tube about half way up. 

 Ovary turbinate ; style very short. Capsule subglobose. Seeds about 

 20, ovate, flattened at the sides, minutely granular. 



Jaunsar and Tehri-Garhwal, in the Valley of the Tons and its 

 tributaries, growing in crevices of rocks at elevations between o,000 and 

 7,000 feet. 



I was at first disposed to look upon this plant as a well-marked 

 variety of the polymorphous A. rot undi folia of Hardwioke ; subse- 

 quent observations, liowever, a«! to its structural characteristics, and 

 its peculiar mode of growth, have convinced me that it should be 

 regarded as a distinct species. At all elevations it maintains its habit 

 of confining itself to the crevices of overhanging rocks, and usually out 

 of the reach of direct sunlight. At the higher elevation, where 

 A» rotundifolia becomes abundant, 1 failed to detect anything at all re- 

 sembling an intermediate form. It is at once recognized by its small 

 glistening leaves, its minute pure white, pink, and ultimately erinison 

 flowers, its long slender petitles and peduncles, and th-e spreading 

 pedicels. It is also a very much more viscid plant than any of the 

 known varieties of A. rotundifolia. 



