214 THE JOURNAL OF INDIAN BOTANY. 



given by Cooke was found in the grass lands at Alibag on 



the banks of a tank. It can hardly deserve rank as a new 



species, being apparently a small form of S. lutea. The 



corolla is of a deep yellow colour." 



The present writer has never seen $. sulphurm. h. J. Sedgwick 



in a letter mentions it as a rare plant found during the monsoon in 



the Malnad, and says he has specimens. 



II. S. densiflora : This is described in all floras as having a 

 5-ribbed calyx and the writer has found no exceptions to this rule. 

 The 5 primary ribs exist and there are no secondaries. 



The corolla is variable in size and shape (fig, 3). The following 

 table gives a comparison of the tube length, anteroposterior and 

 lateral diameters of the flowers of S. lutea and <S. densiflora. 



Table. 



a b, These two plants were growing 

 within a foot of each other. All flowers 

 on one plant of uniform type. 



The curve in the tube of S. densiflora is much more marked 

 than in that of S. lutea (fig. 4.) Hence the 10 + 3, &c. in the tub- 

 length measurements of the former 10 being the measurement below 

 and 3 above the bend Van Buuren in his MS. note states that 

 the S. densiflora tube is " strongly bent above the middle ". 



As above mentioned, the anthers of S. densiflora are bluish black. 

 The writer was at first suspicious that this colour was merely an 

 early appearance of that blueing to which all Strigas are subject 

 after plucking. Dissection of young flowers on the living plant 

 however, dispelled this suspicion and showed that bluish-black is the 

 natural colour of the anther. 



Specimens from different areas sometimes differ. Thus a plant 

 of S. densiflora from Chharodi in Gujarat showed close packing of 

 the flowers due to a [shortening of the internodes, and increased 

 scabridness with more serration of the leaves when compared with 

 S. densiflora collected in Poona. 



The writer has found S. lutea and S. densiflora growing together 

 both in grass and on crops. This is also recorded by Barber and 

 bv Van Buuren. 



