1 2 2 HydrocJiaridecp. 



peduncled, cylindric-ovoid ; scales \i-2 in. long, deltoidly 

 obovate, tip contracted into an upcurved spine an inch long, 

 red brown ; carpophylls about i ft. long, and \-\\ wide, nar- 

 rowed into a long stalk, clothed with buff tomentum, crenate or 

 spinous-serrate, bearing 3-5 pairs of ovules above the middle; 

 seeds as large as a pigeon's &'gg, pale reddish-yellow. 



Forests of moist region up to 1500 ft.; common. Fl. (?). Fr. orange- 

 red. 



Also in S. India, Sumatra, Java, Madagascar, E. Trop. Africa. 



The stems are frequently bifurcated or branched. A clear gum 

 ■exudes from the stems, and flour is ol:)tained from the seeds. Linn;T:us 

 gives this as a cultivated plant only in Ceylon. 



2*. C. Xlumphii, Miq. in Bull. Sc. Phys. ct Nat. Ncerl. i. 45 (1839). 

 Maha-madu, ..V. 



A DC. in DC. Prod. xvi. II. 527. C. P. 3862. 



Fl. B. Ind. V. 657 (not given for Ceylon). Rumph. Herb. Amb. i. tt. 

 22, 23. 



Habit of C. circinalis, but taller, reaching 20 ft. and more; 

 1. shorter, with fewer leaflets ; scales of male cone thickened 

 and obliquely truncate at the tip, with a short upcurv^ed some- 

 times caducous point ; carpoph\'lls a foot long, narrower than 

 in C. circinalis, with an entire often elongate subulate tip; 

 seeds oval or subglobose, 2-24 in. long by i^-iij in. diam. 



Moist region below 1000 ft.; very rare and doubtfully native. Near 

 Galle, 1853 (Ferguson); near Hewesse, Pasdun Korale (Thwaites). 

 Fl. (?). 



Burma, Andaman and Nicobar Is., Malaya, New Guinea, N.Australia. 



This is probably not indigenous ; it is much grown in Colombo 

 gardens, but I have never seen a male plant there,* nor have 1 been 

 .able to obtain one from Peradeniya, where there are many female plants. 



CXXIV.— HYDROCHARIDE^. 



Fresm or salt-water herbs, with undivided submerged or 

 floating leaves; fl. bisexual, monoecious or dioecious, enclosed 

 in one or more spathes ; sep. 3, green or petaloid, valvate 

 ■or induplicate in bud; pet. 3 or o ; stam. 3-15, anth. erect; 

 ov. inferior, i -celled, or partially 3-celled by projecting 

 parietal placentas ; styles or st)'le-arms 3-12, ovules numer- 

 ous, parietal, pendulous, anatropous or orthotropous ; fr. 

 membranous or fleshy, often beaked ; seeds few or many, 

 endosperm o, embryo various. 



* Ferguson sent male fl. to Thwaites in 1865. 



