420 COMMELINACEiE. 



Commclina cc3elcstis Willd. ; F.B.I, vi 369, II 21. 

 Stem 2 feet. Leaves 5 to 6 by I inch at base : sheath 

 I inch wide with ciliate mouth. Spathe ij^ inches 

 acuminate, % inch at widest point when folded, 

 (l^ inches when open). Flowers deep blue very large. 

 t. 266. 



A native of Mexico. Cultivated in gardens and occurring in 

 Ootacamund and Kodaikanal as a garden-escape by road-sides. 

 Fyson 18 12. Bo7ir?te 4637. 



For fertilization see Koemer Nat. Hist, of Plants, Vol. ii, p. 357. 



ANEILEMA. f.b.i. 160 hi. 



Stem simple or branched : roots often tuberous. 

 Flowers in axillary or terminal panicles with small 

 bract and bracteoles. Sepals three, membranous. Petals 

 three, obovate, equal, free or slightly united. Stamens 

 two or three with filaments naked or bearded: anthers 

 oblong one often larger. Staminodes three. Ovary two 

 or three-celled. Capsule loculicidal : seeds in one or in 

 two rows, with thick, hard, rough skin. 



Species 60 in the tropics and sub-tropics chiefly of Asia, 



Ancilema pulncycnsis Fyson No. 435 ; III 9.^ 

 Roots long not succulent ; plant spreading by lateral 

 budding of the rootstock. Stem 4 to 8 inches leafy 

 below, glabrous. Leaf-sheaths J^ inch ; blades l^ to 

 2/^ by ^ to ^ inch. Flowers in open cymose panicles : 

 bracts 1/16 inch persistent. Flowers J4 inch : petals 

 obovate (more obtuse and larger than in A. esculentum 

 Wall), with long narrow claw, and connate at the base 

 of the blades ; very thin and conspicuously veined. 

 Stamens three, with bearded filaments. Staminodes three 

 without beards, their heads deeply three-fid into rounded 

 lobes. Stigma small. Ovary with one row of seeds in 



