360 Aracea. [A/ocasia. 



pedunclcd, tube thick-walled, accrescent, persistent, mouth 

 constricted, limb deciduous ; spadix as long as the spathe or 

 shorter, appendage various, infl. and fr. as in Colocasia, but 

 ovules few, basilar erect. — Sp. about 30; 13 in Fl. B. Ind. 



L. not or hardly peltate i. A. CUCUIXAta. 



L. peltate 2. A. macrorrhiza. 



*A. cucullata, Sc/ioif, Syn. Aroid, 48 (1856). Pana-haba- 

 rala, S. 



Colocasia cucullata^ Schott, Thw. Enum. 336. C. P. 3746. 



Fl. B. Ind. vi. 525. Wight, Ic. t. 787. 



Rootstock caulescent, 1-2 ft. long, as thick as the wrist, 

 branched, the branches inclined and ascending; 1. 6-12 by 

 4-7 in., hardy peltate, broadly ovate-cordate, dark green, 

 basal lobes concave, rounded, sinus acute, lower veins stout, 

 radiating from the top of the petiole, flabellately spreading, 

 midrib with 3-5 pairs of strong veins, petiole 1-3 ft., very 

 stout, terete, tapering upwards from a short sheath ; ped. 

 axillary, shorter than the petiole, tapering upwards, spathe 

 6-12 in., erect, tube 2-4 in., narrowly ellipsoid, fleshy, green, 

 limb narrowly cymbiform, yellow or green ; spadix shorter 

 than the spathe, cylindric, appendage \\-2 in., conoid, acute 

 or obtuse, sinuously sulcate ; anth. connate in short cylindric 

 8-io-cellcd masses ; ov. densely packed, angular, stigma sessile, 

 2-3-Iobed, yellow. 



In native (gardens in the low country, and semi-wild. Fl. Feb. 



Also in liengal and Burma. 



Rootstock used for food in famine times. 



A. alba, Schott, is given for Ceylon only by Engler (Mon. Arac. 500), 

 on the faith of a specimen in Burmann's Herb. In Fl. B. Ind. vi. 528, 

 this is stated to be a Javan species. 



A. indica, Schott, Rufa-ala, Dt'sa-ahi, S., is much cultivated ; it is 

 closely allied to A. cucullata, but has deeply sagittately cordate 1. 2-3 ft. 

 long, narrower spathe, longer spadi.x with the apjjcndage longer than 

 the infl. 



*A. macrorrhiza, Schoit, Syn.Aroid, 45 (1S56). Habarala, S. 



Herm. I'arad. Bat. jt,\ Mus. 63 and 71. Burm. Thes. 34. Fl. Zeyl. 

 n. 327. Arum macrorrhizuDi, L. Sp. PI. 965 ; Moon, Cat. 64. Colocasia 

 mac7-orliiza, Schott, Thw. Enum. 336. C P. 3725. 



Fl. B. Ind. vi. 526. Wight, Ic. t. 797 {Arum odorui/i, Roxb.). 



Rootstock extensively creeping, then ascending, 2-3 ft. 

 high, sometimes as long and thick as a man's arm, annularly 

 scarred; 1. 2-4 ft. by 6-18 in. broad, long-petioled, peltate, 

 broadly sagittately ovate, margins subundulate, basal lobes 

 rounded, incurved, sinus narrow, midrib stout, penniveined, 

 and with two strong basal veins descending into the basal 

 lobes, petiole 2-4 ft,, base sometimes about as thick as the 



