259 



THE INDIAN SPECIES OF ERIOCAULON 



By P. F. Fyson, M.A., F.L.S., 



Presidency College, Madras. 



(Continued from p. 207,) 



20. E. Dianae Fyson, sp. nov. (Fyson. No. 3819 at Eudrasiri) 

 Caulis perbrevis. Folia lanceolata, 3-7 cm. longa, 4-6 mm. lata, 

 plana, glabra. Pedunculi complures, 7-15 cm. aut longiores, glabra. 

 Capitula 5-8 cm. hemi-spherica ; bractae involucrantes sfcramineas and 

 glabrae, quam capitulo longiores aut soquantes, aut demum reflexae. 

 Bractae flores superantes obovato-cuneatae, summo-dorse puberulae, 

 viridi nigrescentes. Flores trimeri. Flos & : sepala in spatham antica 

 fissam, connata, antherae nigraa- Flos % : sepala inaequalia, duo na- 

 vicularia dorso puberula, unum planum, lanceolatum aut linearium, 

 et quam ceteris brevius. Plate 11. 



Peninsular India ; Western Ghats from Mt. Abu and Bombay 

 to Calicut. 



I include in this species a large number of forms the extremes of which 

 are sufficiently distinct to be considered good species, were it not for the 

 intermediates which grade into each other, for even the 7 varieties given below 

 are not easily separated. 



* Bractae involucrantes quam capitulo longiores. 



1 ? floris tertius sepalum planum, oblanceolatum. 



Var. a typica. Bractae involucrantes quam capitulo longiores, 

 femini floris tertium sepalum planum. Plate 12. 



Salsette to S. Kanara. 



A beautiful little plant, the tips of the involucral bracts showing 

 beyond the margin of the head when seen from above. The head 

 itself may be nearly flat, hemispherical, globose, or even ovoid taller 

 than broad, depending apparently on local conditions. The third 

 female sepal is flat but not much shorter than the others and not 

 linear as in the other varieties. The larger heads can be distin- 

 guished only by the female sepals (the two larger being much more 

 boat-shaped and the third flat) from E. quinquangulare L. 



1 I £ floris tertius sepalum linearium 



Var. b longi-bracteatz. Bractae involucrantes quam capitulo mul- 

 to longiores ; floris sepalum tertius latum aut linearium. Calicut. 

 Plate 13. 



Leaves 2-2| in. by £ in. and scapes about twice as long. Heads 

 I in. diam. with bracts spreading below over * in, across in all. 



