Trichopus.] DioscoreacecB. 279 



\-\ in. broad, quadrately oblong, rather broader upwards, top 

 truncate or abruptly acute, base truncate or subcordate ; 

 seeds winged at the lower end only, wing twice as long as the 

 nucleus. 



Low country to 2000 ft.; very common. Fl. Aug., Sept.; yellowish 

 white. 



Throughout India, wild and cultivated. 



Roots, according to Thwaites, employed to attract fish to certain 

 spots where they can be easily caught. For this purpose, pieces are 

 daily, for some time, thrown into the water. I have cited Hermann, 

 Burmann, and Linn. Fl. Zeyl. from D. sativa, but the fruit not being 

 figured or described in these works renders their identification doubtful. 

 Thwaites, in a note, mentions D. sativa, L., as a cultivated plant in 

 Ceylon, with the name kattoo-kookoolala (katu-kukalala, Trvnen), sup- 

 posing it to be a different species from his D. bulbifera. As Dr. Trimen, 

 in a note upon his and Thwaites's bulbifera^ says that the roots are not 

 eaten, it would appear that this may be the wild uneatable state of the 

 cultivated plant. The attention of Ceylon botanists should be given to 

 this subject.— J. D. H. 



D. bulbifera^ Linn. Sp. PI. 1033. In a note by Dr. Trimen on 

 this species, he says : ' I do not understand why this very common and 

 well-known species is considered unrecognisable and undeterminable 

 in Fl. Brit. Ind.' Dr. Trimen has overlooked Bentham's observation in 

 Fl. Hong Kong, p. 368, and Fl. Austral, vi. 462, that modern authors 

 have transposed the Linnsean names of the two species, D. sativa and 

 D. bulbifera. Had he referred to the figure in Rheede (vii. t. 36), which 

 he cites under his (and Thwaites's) bulbifera, and which is the only 

 recognisable authority for that plant cited by Linnsus, he would have 

 seen that it could not be the plant so named in the ' Enumeratio,' and 

 in both the Herbarium and drawings at Peradeniya. The latter has 

 the oblong fr. with narrow carpels of D. sativa, L., well figured in the 

 Hortus Criffortianus, whereas Rheede's plant, cited by Linnasus for his 

 D. bulbifera, has a broad fr. with ^-circular carpels. The latter may 

 represent an unarmed specimen of D. spinosa, Roxb., if that plant ever 

 bears tubers on the stem. — J. D. H. 



D. obcuneata, Hook, f. Fl. Brit. Ind. vi. 293 (1892). A single 

 specimen in Herb. Kew, ticketed by Sir. W. Hooker as from Ceylon, 

 without collector's name or date, is all that is known of this. It may be 

 recognised by the exceedingly slender terete branches, simple opposite, 

 cuneately obovate, cuspidate,. 3-veined thin 1., and capillary spikes of 

 most minute globose male fl.; fem. fl. and fr. unknown. — J. D. H. 



Three other species of Dioscorea are cultivated in Ceylon, and there 

 are specimens of the first two in the Peradeniya Herbarium. They are 

 D. alata, L. (kiri kunul), with winged stems and branches ; D. spinosa, 

 Roxb., with very spinous stems towards the base; and D. purpurea, 

 Roxb. (kahata kundol), with purple tubers and winged or angled stems. 



2. TRZCKOPUS, Gaertn. 



A small, erect, rigid, glabrous, perennial, i -leaved herb; 



stem very short, tufted, rooting at the base, angular; roots 



wiry; 1. terminal on the stem, petioled, very variable, rigid, 



5-9-costate; stip. ovate-lanceolate, persistent; fl. small, fas- 



