CXLV. ERIOCAULACEiE. 847 



or filiform, acute or obtuse, compressed, opaque, 3-5-nerved, base 

 dilated and sparsely woolly within. Peduncles l-2i in. high, capillary, 

 flexuous, uumerous, aggregated, obsoletely ribbed, slender, glabrous, 

 slightly twisted ; sheaths rather lax, i-| in. long, obliquely split. 

 Heads ^-^ in. in cliam., white, shining, glabrous ; involucral bracts -ni iu. 

 long, erect, ovate-lanceolate, acuminate ; floral bracts shorter, oblauceo- 

 late, acute or cuspidate ; receptacle small, columnar, glabrous or sparsely 

 villous. Male flowees : Sepals connate into a spathe split in front, 

 irregularly 3-toothed, pale, glabrous. Petals minute, almost 0. Stamens 

 3-6 ; anthers black. Female elowees subsessile. Sepals 2, with 

 rarely a filiform third one, boat-shaped, concave, falcately curved, acute, 

 winged or keeled on the back, glabrous, the keel or wing spinulose. 

 Petals 0. Ovary 2-3-lobed, subsessile ; style-branches 3, very short. 

 Seeds oblong. Woodr. in Journ. Bomb. Nat. v. 13 (1901) p. 429 ; Euhl. 

 in Engler, Pflanzenreich, v. 4, part 30 (1903) p. 111. 

 Rare. Konkan : Stocks I — Distrib. India (W. Peninsula). 



10. Eriocaulon sexangulare, Linn. Sp. PI. (1753) p. 87. A tall 

 stout herb; stem as thick as the little finger or less, short (rarely 

 elongate). Leaves erect, ceespitose, 4-12 in. long by ^-^ in. wide at the 

 base, linear, narrowed from the base to the subacute or acuminate tip, 

 thin, many-nerved, opaque, drying brown. Peduncles many, stiff, up to 

 18 in. high, 5-ribbed, more or less twisted; sheaths 3-6 in. long, 

 obliquely split, herbaceous, with a long green acumen. Heads -^-f in. in 

 diam., globose, hemispherical or cylindric-ovoid (sometimes viviparous), 

 hard, hoary, with truncate base ; bracts imbricate, closely appressed, 

 concealing the flowers, those of the involucre -^ in. long, subquadrate, 

 orbicular or obovate, acute, glabrous, yellow, shining, the floral bracts 

 i in. long, cuneate-obovate, with a sudden short triangular acumination ; 

 receptacle globose, columnar or hemispheric, sparsely hairy. Male 

 FLOWEES quite flat. Sepals free or connate, -^-^ in. long, boat-shaped, 

 winged, glabrous. Corolla-tube -^L in. long ; petals minute, triangular, 

 ciliate, usually with a small black spot. Stamens 6 ; anthers black. 

 Pemale elowees sessile. Sepals 3, free, 2 of which are large, boat- 

 shaped, acute, j'q— 8 ill. long, dorsally broadly winged, the third small, 

 linear, flat, all glabrous. Petals filiform, terminated by a pencil of long 

 hairs. Ovary subsessile ; style-bi'anches 3, filiform. Seeds subglobose, 

 ribbed, the ridges papillose. El. B. I. v. 6, p. 580 ; Trim. PI. Ceyl.v. 5, 

 p. 5 ; Woodr. in Journ. Bomb. Nat. v. 13 (1901) p. 429 ; Euhl. in Engler, 

 Pflanzeni'eich, v. 4, part 30 (1903) p. 110. Eriocaulon Wallichianiim, 

 Mart, in Wall. PI. As. Ear. v. 3 (1832) p. 27, t. 249 ; Kceru. in Linncea, 

 V. 27 (1856) p. 687 ; Dalz. & Gibs. p. 280.~-Elower3 : Sept. 



KoNKAN : Stocks !, Dalzell !, Wooch-ow ; W. Ghats, Woodroiv. — Distrib. India 

 (W. Peninsula) ; Ceylon, Tropical Asia, Madagascar. 



11. Eriocaulon cuspidatum, Bah. in Eew Journ. Bat. v. 3 (1851) 

 p. 281. Stemless. Leaves csespitose, erect, 1-3| by ^-^ in., linear- 

 oblong, rounded and cuspidate at the apex, glabrous, translucent, fenes- 

 trately 7-9-nerved. Peduncles 6-12 in. high, fasciculate, few or many, 

 7-sulcate ; sheaths reaching sometimes 4 in. long, obliquely split, 

 glabrous. Heads J— | in. in diam., hemispheric or subglobose, white- 

 puberulous ; involucral bracts -^ in. long, broadly obovate-cuueate, 



