s6 CoiUpOSltcV. \Blepharispermum. 



2. S. indicus, /.. Sp. PI. 927 (1753). Muda-maliana, 6^ 



Henn. Miis. 18. Burm. Thes. 220. Moon Cat. 59. S. /u>iits,W\\\d., 

 Thw. Enum. 162. C. \\ 1769. 



Fl. B. Ind. iii. 275. Burm. Thes. t. 94., f. 3. Wight, Ic. t. 1094. 



About I ft. high, witli many long, tough, divaricate branches, 

 stem cylindrical, strongly winged with the sharp-toothed de- 

 current bases of the 1., glandular-hairy ; 1. 1-2 in., sessile, 

 decurrcnt, oval, slightly tapering to base, obtuse or subacute, 

 sharply spinous-scrrate, very glandular and also with long 

 white hair on both sides, glaucous-green ; compound heads 

 |-^ in., ovoid-globose on winged peduncles, heads very 

 numerous, densely packed, bracts linear, rather shorter than 

 fl. heads, ciliate at the end; achcne stalked, smooth. 



Wet places, especially paddy fields, in the low country ; common. Fl. 

 Aug., September, &c.; purple. 



Also in the Tropics of the Old World generally. 



' Muda-mahana' may be translated 'bald-pate,' and alludes to the 

 shaven head of the Buddhist monks which the bare receptacle is thought 

 to resemble (compare the names Scfiecio and Erigeron). The plant has 

 an aromatic scent when handled, and is used medicinally as a bitter 

 tonic and vermifuge. 



3. S. africanus, L. Sp. PI. ed. 2, 1314 (1762). 



S. iin'o-oap/ui/us, Willd., Thw. Enum. 162. C. P. 1770. 

 Fl. B. Ind. iii. 275. 



About 8-18 in. high, stem compressed, glabrous, very 

 strongly winged with nearly entire decurrcnt bases of the 1., 

 branches numerous, divaricate; I. ih-2h in., sessile, decurrcnt, 

 obovate-oval, tapering to base, obtuse, finely and slightly 

 serrate, finely glandular-pubescent on both sides; compound 

 heads small, under ^ii in., globose, on short wingless peduncles, 

 often apparently leaf-opposed, heads very small, densely 

 crowded, bracts oblong-obovate, obtuse, glabrous, shorter 

 than fl.-heads. 



Wet places in low country; very common. Fl. Dec-March; purple. 

 Throughout the Tropics of Asia, Africa, and Australia. 



15. BIiEPHARISPERMUSK, /T/V///. 



A climbing shrub, 1. alt., entire; heads small, numerous, 

 sessile, collected into compound heads which are globose, 

 stalked, terminal and without any general involucre, bracts 

 one to each fl., the outer ones (involucre) oblong, boat-shaped, 

 the inner (bractlets on the receptacle) longer and narrower, 

 fl. few, all tubular, outer (usually 3) female, obscurel}- toothed, 

 disk-fl. 3 or 4, bisexual (but usually barren), 5-fid; anth.-bases 



