3. Crinum.] 149. AMARYLLIDACE^. 



The following species are indigenous in our area ; others may be foimd in gardens. 



A. Leafy stem not dying down annually. Fls. white, with the 



leaves : — 

 Erect, caulescent. Leaves 4-7" wide . . . . .1. asiaticum. 



Prostrate or aquatic or at least scape declinate. L. under 3" 



wide .......... 2. dejixum. 



B. Leaves dying down annually. Flowers before leaves are 



mature, very large, with tepals 1" broad, often rosy . . ^. lafifolium. 



1. C. asiaticum, L. in part, not of Roxh. Syn. C. toxicaria, Roxb. ; 



Bara-kanur, Beng. ; Arsa, Or. ; Hathikanda, H. 

 A very robust herb with large stout erect caudex up to 3 ft. high 

 and 4" diam. Leaves oblong-lanceolate 3-4 ft. long. Scape 2 ft. 

 strongly compressed. Flowers over 20 (up to 50, Roxb.) in the umbel, 

 shortly pedicelled with a slender tube 2-2 • 7" long and linear spreading 

 tepals 2" long. Fruits broadly ellipsoid about \", few-seeded. 



On the higher sandy groimd fronting the sea, in the Cuttack deltaic jungles ? 

 Also apparently wild, but usually near villages in the Purneah jungles ! Fl. at 

 all seasons. Common in gardens. I have recorded from Purneah another large 

 Crinum, apparently wild, but neither in flower nor fruit, and which I now think 

 was probably yoiuig plants of this species. 



Bulb not much wider than the rest of the stem. L. 5-7" wide in the middle, 

 striate beneath. Flowers rather small for the size of the plant and perianth never 

 rosy as in some other species. Pedicel and ovary together -7-1" long. St. 

 spreading and recurved with white or pink filaments and brown versatile linear 

 straight or curved anthers. Style erect pink exserted 1-1-5". Spathe bracts 2, 

 lanceolate, 3-5" ; inner bracts filiform. Seeds large rugose. 



2. C. defixum, Ker. Syn. C. ensifoHum, F.B.I. ; C. asiaticum of 



Roxb. ; Sukh-darshan, Beng. ; Kondai, Or. ; The Ditch Crinum. 

 A stout herb Avith the leaves erect in water, or spreading on the soil 

 from a very broad amplexicaul base 1-25-2" -wide, from which it 

 gradually tapers to the tip, which is somewhat obtuse, length usually 

 12-18", but it is difficult to find mature perfect leaves as they are 

 usually bitten off. Scape from the outer leaf-axils, 1-2 • 5 ft. long, com- 

 pressed, -5- -7" broad, ultimately declinate and resting on the water, 

 soil or other herbage. Umbels 7-12-fid. with 2 spathaceous lanceolate 

 or broadly lanceolate bracts with rounded tip, 2 • 5-3" long, greenish 

 membranous, finally scarious ; floral bracts filamentous with clavate 

 tips. Perianth-tube 3-5-4" slightly exceeding the spreading white 

 linear or linear-lanceolate tepals, Avhich are 3-4" by -4- -5" when 

 spread out, but they are somewhat conduplicate or incurved in nature, 

 and partially enclose the bases of the rather shorter pink filaments. 

 Anthers very slender, linear, - 7- - 9" long, very slightly curved with 

 yellow pollen, the anther appearing at first yellow and finally turning 

 black. Fruit with membranous pericarp, globose, beaked with the 

 long perianth tube, 1-2-seeded. 



Along muddy banks of rivers and often immersed, throughout Chota Xagpur ! 

 Gangpur ! Sambalpur ! and also along the sea front in wet mud and sandy pools 

 in Puri and Cuttack ! in places where the plants must receive a considerable 

 amount of salt. Fl. Aug.-Oct. 



Fl. Aug.-Oct. Bulb 2-5-3" diam., globose or ovoid, terminating suddenly in a 

 neck or when ovoid passing gradually into a very stout neck 2-5-4" long clothed 

 with leaf-bases ; the bulbs are frequently (always ?) attached to a creeping rhizome. 

 Leaves 12 or more on the bulb, often very concave or channelled above, margins 

 hyaline and with sparse hyahne hairs especially towards the base. Perianth tube 



1108 



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