laccaccce. 273 



Bulb globose, \\-2 in. diam., neck o; 1. 8-12, bifarious 

 6-1 1 in,, linear-lanceolate, acuminate, thin, glossy green 

 scape slender, subterete, much shorter than the 1., i-fld. 

 bract solitary, as long as the corolla-tube, base tubular 

 pedicel very short; per.-tube i-ii in. long, throat broadly 

 funnel-shaped, limb 2-3 in. across, segm. lanceolate, as long as 

 the tube; staminal cup toothed, fil. much longer than the 

 cup, i-i;^ in. long; anth. \ in. long. 



Low country, in grassy places ; common. Fl. Jan., &c. ; white, 

 fragrant. 



Throughout Trop. Asia. 



Bulb used medicinally. — Thwaites. 



P. verecundum, Sol. in Ait. Hort. Kew. i. 412, is 'stated to be a 

 native of the island ' (Thw. Enum. 324). A plant so named is figured 

 from S. India m Wight, Ic. t. 2023, and I believe bulbs sent from the 

 E. Prov. by Mr. Nevill and cultivated for a few years in the Botanic 

 Garden to have been this plant, which is stated in Fl. B. Ind. vi. 286, to 

 be a very different species from true P. vcrecundutn. — Tritnen. 



I find amongst Dr. Trimen's papers a flower of this plant, from the 

 Peraden. Garden, but without more material it is impossible to determine 

 its species. It is not either P. verecicndiim^ Ait., or P. inalabaricwn^ 

 Wight. The per.-tube is 3 in. long, its segm. about i in. long, very 

 narrow, the staminal cup is too mutilated to determine its form, anth. 

 about \ in. long, as long as their fil. — J. D. H. 



P. trijiorum, Roxb. {P. rnalabaricum^ Herb.) is given for Ceylon in 

 Fl. B. Ind. vi. 285, on Thwaites's authority. Herbert's species is based 

 upon the figures in Rheede, Hort. Mai. xi. t. 40, which represents a 

 plant with 8 rather small flowers in an umbel. To this species Thwaites 

 refers C. P. 2339, which consists of garden specimens of Hymenocallis 

 tenuiflora^ Herb., and he states (Enum. 324) that it is found on banks of 

 rivers and streams up to 2000 ft., and is called ' Diya-manel.' Some 

 confusion seems to have occurred (see also Fl. B. Ind. vi. 286). I have 

 seen it only in Peradeniya Gardens. — Trimen. 



CXXX.— TACCACEyf^. 



ROOTSTOCK very large, tuberous; 1. radical, tripartite, segm. 

 costate, penniveined ; ped. radical, naked ; fl. umbelled, 

 greenish-brown; invol. of 6-12 spathes, with many inner 

 filiform bracts; perianth superior, subglobose, fleshy, 6-lobed, 

 mouth contracted, lobes 2-seriate, imbricate in bud; stam. 6, 

 inserted on the bases of the lobes, fil. very short, dilated into 

 an inflexed hood, anth. sessile within the hood, 2-celled; ov. 

 I -celled, with 3 parietal many-ovuled placentas, styles short, 

 stigmas 3, broad, reflexed over the style; fr. baccate, 6-ribbed ; 

 seeds many, testa striate, endosperm hard, embryo minute. 



PART IV. T 



