A ilA RA NT A CEm, 



137 







«: 



4r- 



^ 



from the presence of a thick coat of long simple hairs, obovate, 

 undulated, very obtuse, acuminated, base attenuated ; petiole 

 short ; spikes long, lax ; flo\Yers green ; bracts rigid, prickly. 

 Sections of the stem do not show any crystalline deposit in 

 the parenchyma- The seeds arc oblong, of a brown colour, 

 from j"Q to ^ of an Inch in length ; on one side a grooved 

 prominence is seen which indicates the position of the embryo 

 where it carves round the mealy albumen. The starch granvdes 

 are very small, and are so closely packed that the large irregular- 

 shaped cells which contain them have almost the appearance of 

 parenchymatous cells* 



Chemical composition, — The whole plant collected in August 

 was used. A proximate analysis failed to indicate the presence 

 of any principle of special interest, ]^o alkaloidal body was 

 detected, and the alcoholic extract contained no principle reacting 

 with ferric salts. 



For the ash determination, the roots, stems and leaves were 

 separately examined with the following results: 



) 



Leaves. 



Steins. 



P*0' 



SiO' as Sand ... 



so^.: 



CaO 



MgO 



K^O 



Na'O 



Fe'0= 



Manganese .. 



KCl 



NaCl 



APO^ 



CO' 



Carbon 





Boots. 



3-0257 



39-7192 



1-3200 



13-8893 



3-4778 



17-8454 



2-7931 



Traces, not 

 estimated. 

 5-7416 

 1-1770 

 2-0651 

 8-8687 

 •3297 



2-6939 



1-8594 



12-9716 



21-4219 



2-6534 



3-9523 



131233 



12-9335 



3-5149 



5-4419 



32-0008 



28-5830 



t 



•9860 



3-0352 



5 6297 



ot estimated. 



Not estimated. 



9-5221 



1-5261 



Not estimated 



13-6294 

 •5525 



100-2526 



95-2232 



3-2951 



x^ot estimated. 



110057 

 Not estimated. 



95-1085 





III.— 18 



