G72 cxxiT. burmanxiace.t:. 



Obdeb CXXIV. BURMANNIACE^. 



Erect herbs, annual or with a perennial rootstock, simple or sparingly 

 branched. Leaves chiefly radical or reduced to scales or 0. Mowers 

 herma])ln'odite, regular, solitary, terminal, or unihiterally spicate or 

 racemose on a forked rhachis with a bract opposite each. Perianth 

 superior, corolline, persistent, 6-lobed or G-clef't (rarely 8-lobed) ; lobes 

 valvate. Stamens 3 or 6, included, adnate to the perianth-tube or 

 throat; filaments very short or 0; anthers 2-celled, deliiscing trans- 

 versely or longitudinally. Ovary inferior, 3-celled with axial placentas, 

 or 1-celled with 3 parietal placentas; ovules many, minute. Fruit a 

 loculicidal capsule, or opening vertically. Seeds many, minute, reticulate ; 

 albumen ; embryo homogeneous. — Disteib. Throughout warm regions 

 in both hemispheres ; genera 10; species o4. 



1. BURMAWNIA, Linn. 



Annual herbs ; stems simple or divided. Leaves ensiform, acuminate, 

 radical, sometimes reduced to scales or 0. Flowers solitary or few. 

 Perianth-segments 2-seriate, connate in a winged or angled tube ; 

 segments of outer series 3, of inner also 3, suialler, sometimes obsolete. 

 Stamens 3, sessile or subsessile ; anther-cells shoi-t, separated by a broad 

 connective, dovsally crested, dehiscing transversely. Ovary 3-celled ; 

 style short ; stigma 3-lobed. Fruit a capsule more or less 3-«inged, 

 opening loculicidally between the wings, or sometimes ru])turing trans- 

 versely. Seeds minute, obi )ng or subglobose. — Disteib. Tropics of both 

 hemispheres ; species about '20. 



1. Burmannia caelestis, Don, Prodr. Fl. Nep. (1825) p. 44. 

 Vae. pusilla, Trim. Fl. C'ei/l. v. 4 (1898) p. J 31. Stem 3-6 in. (rarely 

 reaching 7 in.) high, very slender. Leaves very few, scale-like, sessile 

 along the stem, jV'^f ^"- ^^^^.?' Ifi^nceolate-subulate. Flowers i-| in. long, 

 obcordate or orbicular in outhne, blue or purple, solitary or 2-3 together 

 (often 3 when the central flower is sessile, the others stalked). Calyx- 

 tube winged, the wings roiuided, truncate or refuse at the top. Petals 

 minute. — Flowers : Sept. -Oct. 



This is the common form. I have never seen a specimen of B. cfrlestis 

 proper from the Bombay Presidency. Burmannia pusilla (sp,), Thw. 

 Enum. p. 325; Hook. f. Fl. B. I. v. 5, p. 605 ; AVoodr. in Journ. Bomb. 

 Nat. V. 12 (18i)9) p. 518. B. trijiora, Poxb. Fl. Ind. v. 2 (18;}2) p. 117 

 in part; ])alz. & Gibs. ]). 271. /^. disticha, Grab. Cat. p. 223 (not of 

 Linn.). Gonynnlhes pusilla, IMiers, in Trans. Linn. Soc. v. 18 (1841) 

 p. 537, t. 38, fig. 3. 



KoNKAN : hot sprinnrs near Malinr, Bahell (^ Gibson; Matlicran, Cooke\, H. M. 

 Birdwood. Deccan : Maiiableahwar, CooA-'c !, Woodrowl S. M. Cocntuy : Castlorock, 

 Talbot, 2588 ! 



Order CXXY. ORCKIDACE^. 



Herbs (rarely shrubby), usually either (1) terrestrial often tuberoup- 

 rooted with aniuuil lierbaceous leafy or leaHess simple steuis and wilh 

 solitary or spicate or racemose flowers, or (2) epiphytes with perennial 

 stems or branches usually leafy, variously thickened and often forming a 



