ERIOCAULACE.E. 42Q 



hairy, all three with a black gland on the inner face a 



little above the mouth of the tube. Stamens six ; anthers 



black on slender, curved filaments. Female flowers : — 



Stalk shorter. Sepals and petals with long hairs at the 



base, in addition to the terminal fringe of thicker ones 



at the back : sepals free : petals oblanceolate, quite free, 



all equal in length, with black glands. Ovary of three 



cells, yellow : styles long connected only near the base. 



t. 272. b bracts; r receptacle in section; s three 



stamens. 



On the bank of the river at Pykara. Fyson 2561, 2694, 

 2860. Coonoor {Clarke). Only known from the Nilgiris. 



The slight enlargement of the sheath just below the mouth is not 

 mentioned in the descriptions in F.B.I, and Das Pflauzenreich, but seems 

 distinctly characteristic ; so also is the frequent narrowing of the head 

 above the base, by the greater length of the long petals of the male 

 flowers in the upper and the lowest circles. The flower-head has none of 

 the strong honey scent of E. nilagirense, but the faintest trace of that of 

 the Chrysanthemum. 



Eriocaulon nilagirense Steud. ; F.B.I, vi 576 included 

 in E. brownianum, hut not Wall. Cat. 6066 ! ; I 18 "^ ; Black- 

 backed Giant Hatpin-flower, Honey scented. 



Rhizome as thick as the finger, with two or three 

 flower-stalks only. Leaves linear-oblong, acute, 6 to 12 

 by /^ to ^ inches, translucent, hair}^. Peduncle about 

 twice as long, ribbed and hairy, not much twisted: 

 sheath 6 inches, with very long open mouth (i to ij^ 

 inches), acute, translucent, with a tuft of hairs at the 

 extreme base. Involucral bracts, oblong-ovate obtuse, 

 black, but covered with white silky hairs and so almost 

 grey: floral bracts oblanceolate-cuneate, hairy on the 

 back of the triangular, not acuminate end. Male floivers : — 

 Sepals black ^ inch, oblong or elliptic, obtuse, free, but 

 connate into a sheath split open in front, glabrous except 

 for a fringe of white hairs at the end. Petals connate into 

 trumpet-shaped corolla, with small, very acute lobes, cili- 

 ate only at the tips. Stamens six ; anthers oblong, black. 



