270 PONTEDERIACEZ.  [ Monocuorta. 
blue, tle others yellow. Ovary ovoid, } in. long; stigma obscurely 
3-lobed. Capsule 2 in. long, ellipsoid. Seeds 2; in. long, rounded at 
each end, pale, with many fine brown ribs. ; 
Abundant within the area in streams and tanks. Distrrrs.: Through- 
out India and in Ceylon, extending to the Malay Islands and China. 
2. M. vaginalis, Presl. Relig. Hoenk. 1,128. F. B. I. vi, 363 ; 
Prain Beng. Pl. 1079 ; Cooke Fl. Bomb. ii, 777. Pontederia vagi- 
nalis, Burm. ; Roxb. Fl. Ind. wi, 121. 
Rootstock short, suberect, spongy. Leaves very variable, 2-4 in. long, 
from linear to ovate or ovate-cordate, usually acuminate ; petioles 
of lower leaves long, stout, terete ; the peduncles emerging from the 
sheaths of the uppermost leaves. Flowers blue, usually spotted with 
red, in sub-spicate racemes globose in bud and then elongating as the 
flowers expand, the terminal flower opening first ; pedicels 4-} in. 
Perianth campanulate ; segments ‘about 3 in. long, three of them 
narrowly obovate, the other three much narrower. Filament of 
large anther 2 in. long, with an acute horn on one side, those of the- 
smaller anthers filiform. Ovary +, in long, ellipsoid, glandular ; 
stigma 3-lobed. Fruit less than 3 in. long, glandular outside. Seeds 
rounded at each end, pale and with many brown ribs. 
Abundant within the area in rice-fields, and on the margins of tanks.. 
Distris.: Throughout India from Kashmir to Assam and south to 
Travancore ; also in Ceylon and extending to the Malay Islands, 
China, Japan and Trop. Africa. 
Van. plantaginea, Solms-Laub.; F. B. I. vi, 363; Prain Beng. Pl. 
1079. Pontederia plantaginea, Roxb Fl. Ind. ii, 123. A much. 
smaller plant with narrower leaves and fewer flowers on the racemes. 
Found at Moradabad by T. Thomson and by Mrs. Bell at Banda, 
but is probably plentiful within the area and in: other parts of India.. 
Outside India it occurs in Java and China. 
4 
CXIITI.— COMMELINACEZE. 
Herbs, prostrate or erect, rarely climbing or shrubby. Leaves 
costate, with sheathing bases, nerves parallel. Flowers more or 
less irregular, usually 2-sexual, often cymose ; cymes scorpioid, 
straight or reduced to one flower, sometimes panicled, often enclosed 
in spathe-like bracts; floral bracts usually small, opposite the- 
_ pedicels or obsolete, sometimes herbaceous and distichously im- 
