143. COMMELINACEJE. [2. Anbilema. 



2. Slender diffuse species with small or narrow leaves 

 1-6": — 



Ovules and seeds 3-7 in each cell. L. imder 2" . 3. spiratum. 



Ovules and seeds 2 in each cell. L. 2-5" . . 4. nudiflorum. 

 II. Fls. 1-4 clustered on short axillary peduncles : — 



Ovules and seeds about 16 in each cell . . . .5. terminalis. 



Ovules and seeds solitary in each cell . . . .6. vaginatum. 



1. A. scapiflorum, Wight. 



A very beautiful little plant throwing up its scapes after the jungle 

 fires and before the appearance of the leaves. Flowers purple-blue 

 or sepals red and petals violet, '75" diam. on a narrow panicle 8-18" 

 high. Stamens 3 perfect with purple anthers, staminodes 2 or 3 

 shorter with small yellow anthers, filaments bearded. Capsule -25" 

 elliptic mucronate 3-gonous. Ovary-cells mostly about 4-5-ovuled. 



Frequent in grass tracts annually burnt and also in sparse forest. Common in 

 Chota Nagpur ! Purneah ! Mayiu-bhanj ! Kalahandi ! Probably in all dis- 

 tricts. Fl. March-May. Leaves appear tvith the rains (May in Mayurbhanj). 



Tuberous roots numerous elongate from a thickened small stock. L. narrowly 

 ensiform, 4-10", erect, finely acuminate. Lower bracts of panicle 1" long, tubular 

 or amplexicaul, often \vith erect panicle-branches, upper ovate •2-- 15" usually 

 dotted and puberulous. Petals sometimes -5", obovate or suborbicular. Seeds 

 straw-coloured with a minutely reticulate glandular epidermis, 1-seriate, 3-6 

 superposed in each cell. 



The tuberous roots are credited with various medicinal properties. 



2. A. lineolatum, Kunth. Syn. A. herbaceum, Clarke (in Monog.). 



A stout species with erecto-patent large lanceolate or oblong 

 amplexicaul leaves 6" by 1-5" or radical up to 12". Flowers blue in 

 large axillary and terminal panicles with marcescent bracts. Fila- 

 ments all bearded. Capsule broadly ellipsoid 3-gonous, -25" diam., 

 mucronate, with 3-4 smooth reticulate seeds in each cell. 



Chiefly in Eastern India and the hills. Ranclii (Hundrughagh), Prain ! and 

 Bundu (Tamar), Wood ! Hazaribagh (Parasnath), Thorns. ! Fl., Fr. Aug.-Sept. 



L. with white margins, acuminate, often crisped, base cimeate rounded or 

 cordate. Panicle stout glabrous with spreachng and ascending branches. St. 

 2-3 with 2-3 staminodes. Seeds glandular-puberulous {F. B.I.). 



3. A. spiratum, Br. 



A procumbent or ascending much branched slender herb with 

 amplexicaul small oblong to somewhat ovate or lanceolate leaves 

 up to 2" long and small bright blue or violet flowers -25" diam. in 

 axillary and terminal panicled scorpioid cymes with the rhachis often 

 zigzag. Bracts minute persistent. Pedicels slender -25". Sepals 

 brownish. Petals obovate • 17". Capsule oblong • 15" long, acutely 

 trigonous mucronate or shortly beaked with a single row of 3-7 seeds 

 in each cell. Seeds cuboid, shining, light brown, minutely knobbed 

 (smooth or scaberulous, F.B.I.). 



Common, mostly in drying-up rice-fields. Purneah, Kurz ! Gya, Thorns. 1 

 Chota Nagpur, all districts ! Probably throughout the province. Fl., Fr. Sept.- 

 Jan. Annual. 



Root fibrous. Stems many from the root 6-15" with the panicle. Branches 

 with a line of pubescence. Leaves mostly -5-1 -5", usually glabrous, acute or 

 subacute, margin thickened often scaberulous. Sheaths short with pubescent 

 edges in continuation of the branch lines of pubescence. St. 3, staminodes 3, 

 filaments naked or bearded. 



1079 



