756 CXXXT. DIOSCOEEACEiE. 



regular ; bracts small, often miuute, sometimes obsolete ; male spikes or 

 racemes simple or paniculate ; female simple, sometimes reduced to 

 1-2 flowers; pei'ianth superior, 6'lobed, in 2 series. Male flowees : 

 Perianth campanulate or rotate, deeply 6-fid, or urceolate with narrow- 

 mouth and short spreading lobes. Stamens 6, adnate to the base of the 

 perianth, all perfect or 3 reduced to staminodes, or only 3 and no 

 staminodes ; filaments incurved or recurved ; anthers small, 2-celled, 

 globose, oblong or didymous, or the cells discrete on branches of the 

 filament. Pistillode various or 0. Female elowees : Perianth usually 

 smaller than in the male, 6-fid or 6-partite, persistent. Staminodes 3 

 or 6 or 0. Ovaiy inferior, 3-quetrous, 3-celled ; ovules 2 in each cell, 

 superposed, pendulous, auatropous or subamphitropous ; styles 3, very 

 short ; stigmas entire or 2-fid, recurved. IVuit a beiTy or 3-valved 

 capsule. Seeds flat or globose ; albumen fleshy, rather hard ; embryo 

 minute, enclosed in the albumen. — Disteib. Genera 8 ; species about 

 160, tropical and subtropical. 



1. DIOSCOREA, Linn. 



Herbs with slender twiniiig (rarely procumbent) stems. Leaves 

 alternate or sometimes opposite, entire or lobed, or digitately 3-9- 

 foliolate. Plowers 1-sexual, usually dioecious. Male elowees : Perianth 

 campanulate, rotate, or urceolate ; lobes short, spreading. Stamens 6 

 perfect, or 3 alternating with 3 staminodes, or 3 without staminodes ; 

 anthers small, the cells contiguous or discrete. Pistillode thick, fleshy 

 or 0. Female elowees : Perianth-segments 6, free, small. Staminodes 

 6 or 3 or 0. Ovary inferior, 3-quetrous, 3-celled; ovules 2 in each 

 cell, superposed, laterally attached near the apex ; styles 3, short ; 

 stigmas terminal, entire or 2-fid, reflexed above the style. Pruit a 

 loculicidal capsule, laterally flattened, almost winged. Seeds com- 

 pressed, often with a large membranous wing ; albumen compressed, 

 fleshy or hard, 2-laminate ; embryo between the laminae with a sub- 

 orbicular cotyledon. — Disteib. Tropical and subtropical ; species 150. 



Leaves 3-5-foliolate. 



Stamens 6, all antheriferous; leaflets 3 1. D. damona. 



Stamens 3 antheril'erous, alternating with 3 staminodes; 



leaflets usually 5, sometimes 3, rarely 7 2. D. pentaphylla. 



Leaves simple. 



Capsules longer than broad ; seeds winged at the base only ; 



leaves opposite and alteniato 3. B.bulhifera. 



Capsules suborbicular, oi'len broader than long; seeds 



winged all round ; leaves usually opposite 4. D. oppositifolia. 



1. Dioscorea daemona, Roxh. Fl. Ind. v. 3 (1832) p. 805. Eoot 

 tuberous, lobcd, biennial ; stems twining, more or less prickly. Leaves 

 3-foliolate ; common petiole 4-8 in. long, usually prickly ; leaflets 4- 

 8 by 2-5 in., all petiolulate, broadly cuneate-obovate, cuspidately 

 caudate-acuminate, villous when young, glabrous in age, sometimes 

 reticulately veined, base tapering, 3-5-uerved ; lateral leaflets very 

 ohhque ; petiolules ^-| in. long. Male flowehs in dense cylindric 

 pedunculate spikes \~^ in. long, arranged in clusters along the more or 

 less pricklv, pubescent or villous rhachis of a raceme 6-18 in. long; 

 peduncles of spikes -^^-\ in. long, pubescent ; bracts broadly ovate, 

 deltoid at the apex, pubescent, shorter than the flowers. Perianth 



