l7S CXXXIII. PONTEDERIACE.I'. 



4 in. long, glandular outside. Seeds 3^^ in. long, ellipsoid, rounded at 

 each end, pale, with many brown ribs. i'l. B. I. v. 6, p. 363 ; Solms- 

 Laub. in DC. Monog. Phan. v. 4 (1883) p. 524 ; Trim. Fl. Ceyl. v. 4, 

 p. 295; Woodr. in Journ. Bomb. Nat. v. 12 (1899) p. 524; Prain, 

 Beng. PI. p. 1079. Pontederia vaginalis, Burm. Fl. lud. (1768) p. 80 ; 

 Eoxb. Cor. PI. V. 2, t. 110 ; Grab." Cat. p. 222 ; Dalz. & Gibs. p. 249.— 

 Flowers : Dec. 



Eice-fields and margins of tanks common, Graham, Dalzell^ Gibson. Stoc/iS with- 

 out, locality in Herb. Kew. ! Konkan : Vingorla, Woodrowl — Distrib. Throughout 

 India; Ceylon, Singapore, Malay Islands, China, Japan, Tropical Africa. 



Order CXXXIV. XYRIDACE^. 



Erect, tufted, rush-like, scapigerous, glabrous herbs. Leaves radical, 

 elongate, linear or subulate ; sheaths short. Scape stout or slender, as 

 long as or shorter than the leaves, terete, angled or compressed, naked. 

 Flowers hermaphrodite, sessile in tlie rigid, dark brown, imbricating 

 bracts of a terminal globose or ovoid cone-like head or spike, opening 

 one at a time : bracts orbicular or obovate, coriaceous, convex, persistent. 

 Perianth inferior, 2-seriate. Sepals (or bracteoles) 3, deciduous, mem- 

 branous, the 2 lateral small (like bracteoles), narrowly boat-shaped, 

 arched, keeled or winged, the dorsal sepal petaloid, broader, arching 

 over the young flowers, sometimes absent. Petals 3, clawed, obovate 

 or spathuiate, colored. Stamens 3, perfect, shorter than the corolla- 

 lobes and attached near their bases ; anthers sagittate, 2-celled, dorsi- 

 fixed, dehiscing longitudinally ; staminodes 3, alternating with the 

 corolla-lobes or 0. Ovary superior, 1-celled or imperfectly 3-celled ; 

 placentas 3, basal and confluent or parietal ; ovules numerous, ortho- 

 tropous ; style usually 3-fid, with long arms ; stigmas capitate or dilated. 

 Fruit a loculicidally 3-valved capsule, or with the top circumscissile. 

 Seeds minute, oblong, strongly ribbed; embryo minute, in floui'y albumen. 

 — DisTEiB. Genera 2, one (Xyris) found in all \^'arm regions, tlie other 

 American ; species about 50. 



1. XYRIS, Linu. 

 Characters of the Order. 



1. Xyris indicaj Linn. Sp. PI. (1753) p. 42. An erect annual 

 6-20 in. high. Leaves usually shorter than, but sometimes as long as the 

 scape, g-| in. broad, spongy, linear, narrowed to an obtuse or acute tip. 

 Scape stout, deeply grooved and acutely angled. Flowers in ellipsoid 

 spikes ,|-| in. long; bracts many, orbicular or cuneately obovate, usually 

 broader than long, dark red-brown, shining, very coriaceous, with scarious 

 margins. Flowers bright yellow, ^ i)i. across. Lateral sepals narrowly 

 boat-shaped, dorsally winged, the wing serrulate. Claw of petals as 

 long as the sepals ; limb obovate or suboi'bicular, erose, veined. Filaments 

 short, broad ; anthers oblong, ^\j in. long. Style, including the 3 arms, 

 ^^^ in. long, the arras about ^^^ in. long ; stigmas truncate. Capsules 

 ovoid, _^ in. long. Seeds minute, ellipsoid, very strongly ribbed. Fl. B. 

 I. V. 6," p. 364 ; Grab. Cat. p. 223 ; Dalz. & Gibs. p. 259; Trim. Fl. Ceyl. 



