3. Dracjena.] us. LILIACE^. 



slenderly petioled and only 1 • 5" wide, tip finely but shortly acuminate, 

 base passing imperceptibly into the petiole. Flowers 2-3-nate 

 shortly pedicelled in the axils of small bracts of a simple cernuous 

 raceme 3-4" long or about 6" in fruit. Perianth very slender, -7- -8" 

 long, greenish-white, sometimes curved, segments linear valvate, free 

 two-thirds or more of the way down, very obtuse, tmsted soon after 

 opening. Fruit red, -SS-'G" diam., globose didymous or sub-3-lobed 

 according to the number of seeds. 



Under rather dense shade. Piui ! A similar-lookmg plant but with narrower 

 leaves (see above) and neither in flower nor fruit has been sent to me by 3Ir. Chat- 

 tarjee from Angul ! Fl. May-June. Fr. Sept.-Oct. Evergreen. 



Stems ringed at the nodes, thickened and nodose at the rootstock. There are 

 remarkable lanceolate leaf sheaths or bracts clothing the stems between groups 

 of leaves, possibly the beginning of each year's gro\Hh ; they are mostly finally 

 deciduous, but some appear to grow up into small leaves. L. with numerous 

 parallel nerves. The petioles are very variable from slender and -06" wide to 

 stout and "2" wide ; length varies from 1-3". 



2. D. angustifolia, Roxb. 



An erect shrub 4-10 ft. high with cylindrical stems -5- -75" diam. Leaves 

 onsiform or linear, 8" to over 2 ft. long by • 75-2" broad, sessile on the sheathing 

 base. Flowers white 2-3-nate on the branches of a large decurved spreading 

 panicle. Perianth • 75" long, lobes • 5" hnear, spreading and reflexed. 



Shady banks and edges of streams in the Duars !, and possibly extends westwards 

 into Purneah. Fl. Nov.-Dec. 



4. SANSEVIERIA, Thurle. 



Stout often fleshy herbs ^vith a short often stoloniferous rootstock 

 or creeping rhizome. Leaves narrow, cartilaginous or fleshy, flat or 

 terete, nerves immersed. Flowers racemose on a stout scape, white 

 or greenish. Perianth more or less slenderly tubular with narrow 

 erect, spreading or revolute lobes. Stamens 6 inserted opposite the 

 tepals with slender filaments and dorsifixed anthers. Ovary superior, 

 attached by a broad base, 3-celled with filiform style and simple 

 stigma. Ovules solitary erect or ascending from the lower angle in 

 each cell. Fruit membranous indehiscent with 1-3 large globose 

 fleshy seeds appearing like 3 fleshy carpels, the membranous pericarp 

 evanescent. 



Several species, including S. Roxburghiaiia, are cultivated as garden plants in 

 our area and known as Sword and Bayonet plants. The genus affords a valuable 

 fibre known as Bowstring Hemp, which is usually said to be derived from S. guinensis. 

 A revision of the whole genus Is given by N. E. Brown in the Kew Bulletin for 1915. 

 From this it appears that S. guinensis, Baker, etc., is S. metaUica, Gtr. <k Lahr. ; 

 S. g. Ger. & Labr. is S. trifasciata, Prain, which is closely alUed ; S. g. Hort is -S. 

 cylindrica, Bojer ; S. g. Willd. is S. thyrsiflora, Thunb. ; S. -guinensis, Schwein, is 

 S. abyssinica, N. E. Br. ? etc., and it is not known which of these species yields 

 the best quality fibre. 



1. S. Roxburghiana, Schult. Murba, Beng. ; Murga, Or. 



An erect fleshy plant with tufted leaves 12-18" high by 1-1-3" 

 broad, linear-oblong, flat but convex on lower surface, not semi- 

 terete,* the j'oung only concave on upper surface, widest about the 

 middle, clouded with irregular bars of darker green on both surfaces, 

 tip ending in a solid cusp \" long. Raceme strict dense, shorter than 

 * The Angul plant had semi-terete leaves 2 ft. long and was not in flower. 



1090 



