II A UrtlcaceCB. \Chamabainia. 



2. B. platyphylla, Don, Fl. Nep. Prod. 60 (1825). 

 Wedd. Mon. Url. 364. Thw. Enum. 260. Wedd. in DC. 1. c. 210. 

 C. P. 2196, 2952. 



Fl. B. Ind. V. 578. Wight, Ic. t, 1977 {Splitgerbera viacrostachya). 



A shrub with soft glabrous or strigose branches ; 1. 3-9 

 by 2\-6 in., mostly opp., broadly ovate oval or orbicular, 

 acuminate or caudate, with the tip serrate, coarsely toothed, 

 nearly glabrous or pubescent on both surfaces, or smooth or 

 tessellately reticulate on the upper, base rounded or cordate, 

 veins 3-5 pairs, the basal long; petiole 1-5 in.; stip. tri- 

 angular-lanceolate ; fl. in minute subremote pisiform clusters 

 on long (up to 18 in.), on short slender flexuous androgynous 

 or unisexual spikes ; male or androg. spikes simple or branched, 

 fern, simple ; male sep. 4, ov^ate, acuminate, pubescent ; fern, 

 perianth usually with a very small unequally 4-toothed 

 mouth ; achene crustaceous, shining, enclosed in a turgid 

 gibbous compressed stipitate pubescent perianth. 



Moist region 2-6000 ft.; common. Fl. April, October. 



Hills of India, Burma, Malay Is., China, Japan, Africa. 



'A very variable plant, and many mere varieties have been dis- 

 tinguished by name. Of these, var. scabrella (Wight, Ic. t. 691), riigosis- 

 sima, rotiindifolia, and longissiinn are recorded for Ceylon, but their 

 differences do not appear to me to be worth varietal distinction.' — Trimen. 

 [Weddell distinguishes 20 varieties, of which 5 are found in Ceylon, 

 namely : niacrostachya, with 1. serrate almost throughout, and very long 

 pendulous fern, spikes; zcylanica (C. P. 2197), with narrower 1. and short 

 simple erecto-patent spikes ; scabrella, with small broad cuspidate acutely 

 toothed 1., and short subsimple erect spikes ; riigosissliiia, with large 

 broad rugose 1., and short subfascicled spikes ; roiuudifolia, with broad 

 cuspidately caudate coarsely toothed membranous 1., and short spikes. 

 I have also, in Fl. B. Ind., distinguished a var. longissiiiia, with 1. ovate or 

 ovate-oblong, glabrous, long-petioled, coarsely toothed, and very long and 

 slender spikes. The specimen is from Col. Walker, and the same form 

 occurs in the Pulney and Nilgiri Mts. — J. D. H.] 



24. CKAMABAINIA, Wight. 

 A slender, diffuse herb ; 1. opp., petioled, membranous, 

 base 3-veined, toothed ; stip. in pairs, orbicular, scarious, 

 enclosing the young infl. ; fl. in axillary bracteate clusters, 

 male peduncled ; perianth 4-lobcd, lobes valvate ; stam. 4, 

 fil. incurved in bud ; pistillode clavellate; fcm. fl. subsessile, 

 perianth tubular, compressed, mouth 5-toothed ; ov. ovoid, 

 stigma sessile, fimbriate ; achene ovate, compressed, acute, 

 smooth. — Monotypic. 



C. cuspidata, HYgli/, Ic. vi. 11 (1853). 



Thw. Enum. 260. C. S(//fa/j/i\'-era,Wedd. in DC. 1. c. 218. C. P. 2882. 

 Fl. B. Ind. V. 580. Wight, Ic. t. 1981. 



