274 COMMELINACEA. [ CoMMELINA. 
long, cylindric, truncate at one end, subacute or rounded at the 
other, without an appendage. 
From Delhi to N. Oudh, apparently not common. DuistriB. : Kumaon, 
Bengal, Assam; and from Mt. Abu south to Konkan and Poona. 
4. C. benghalensis, Linn. Sp. Pil. 41; Clarke in DC. Mon. 
aut, 159 ; Roxb. Fl. Ind. 1,171; F. B. I. vi, 370; Watt HE. D.; 
Collett Fl. Siml. 532 ; Prain Beng. Pl. 1082 ; Cooke Fl. Bomb. it, 
782. 
Siems 2-3 ft. long, slender, dichotomously branched from the base ; 
branches diffuse, glabrous or pubescent, creeping and rooting below. 
Leaves 1-3 in. long, ovate or oblong, obtuse, sessile or shortly stalked, 
pubescent or villous on both surfaces ; base unequal-sided, rounded 
cuneate or cordate ; nerves 7-11 pairs; sheaths hairy ; margins ciliate 
with rufous hairs. Spathes 1-3 together, funnel-shaped or turbinate, 
auricled on one side. Sepals small, oblong, hairy. Petals blue, the 
larger one orbicular or transversely oblong. Ovary 3-celled, two of 
the cells 2-ovuled, the third cell l-ovuled. Capsule } in. long, 
pyriform, membranous, 5-seeded. Seeds closely pitted. 
Moradabad (T. Thomson), Pilibhit (Duthie) ; Bundelkhand (Edgeworth). 
Distris. : Throughout India, and up to 6,000 ft. on the Himalaya, 
extending to China and Trop. Africa. In this species ripe seeds 
are sometimes matured underground from abnormal flowers borne on 
leafless branches coming from the lower nodes ofthe stems. These 
flowers are white and smaller than the blue erial ones, which often 
fail to produce fertile seeds. 
5.C. attenuata, Koen. ex Vahl. Enum. uw, 168; Clarke in 
DC. Mon. iin, 172 ; F. B. I. vi, 372 ; Prain. Beng. Pl. 1083 ; Cooke 
Fl. Bomb. ir, 784. 
Stem 1-3 ft. long, slender, much branched, glabrous or sparsely hairy. 
Leaves 13-3 in. long, linear or linear-lanceolate, acute or subobtuse ; 
sheaths ciliate, often hardly distinct from the leaf-blade, spathes 
1-14 in., narrowly ovate-lanceolate, acute or caudate-acuminate, 
glabrous ; base deeply sagittately cordate and with large auricles. 
Peduncles 2-14 in., glabrous or pubescent. Flowers small, blue. 
Capsule 4 in. long, 1-celled, with 2 superposed seeds truncate and 
appendaged at both ends, or with one subglobose seed. 
Bundelkhand (Mrs. Bell) and probably in other localities within the 
area. Distrip.: Chota Nagpur, Behar, Central India and South to 
Ceylon. 
6. C. obliqua, Buch-Ham. in Don. Prod. 45 (not of Vahl), Clarke 
an DC. Mon. wi, 178; F. B. I., 1, 372 ; Watt HE. D.; Collett Fl. 
