7. Hypoxis.J 149. AMARYLLIDACEM. 



or ell. -oblong, anthers • OG" and filaments nearly twice as long. Capsule 

 cylindric -turbinate • 5" long, crowned by the marcescent perianth. 



Amongst grass in open jungle but not common. In the hills. Pdts of Chota 

 Nagpur ! Parasnath ! Fl., Fr. June-July. 



The leaves sometimes attain 12" long, but have not been seen so large in our 

 area. Curculigo orchioides has sometimes been called " H. anrea, male fl." in 

 herbaria. It can easily be distinguished by general habit as well as by the anthers 

 being ■ 1 2" long and twice as long as the filaments. 



FAM. 150. TACCACEiE. 



Tuberous-rooted herbs with large radical petioled, sometimes 

 deeply partite, lobed or pinnatifid leaves. Flowers densely umbellate 

 at the apex of a leafless scape, outer spathe bracts broad, often 4, 

 herbaceous or coloured forming an involucre to the umbel, inner 

 filiform, overtopping the flowers and drooping. Perianth petaloid 

 or sub-herbaceous, broadly urceolate or globosely campanulate with 

 a short broad tube often constricted at the mouth, lobes 6, 2 -seriate, 

 subequal or the inner broader, all conniving or outer or all very 

 spreading. Stamens 6, inserted on the tube or base of the segments, 

 included, filaments very short with dilated base or furnished on 

 each side with a swollen fleshy process dilated above into an incurved 

 interiorly 2-ribbed or 2-horned cowl with the anthers sessile inside 

 the cowl, ovate or oblong with 2 longitudinally dehiscing cells. Ovary 

 inferior 1-locular Avith 3 parietal placentae, style short columnar, often 

 3-angled, included, with 3 broad, often petaloid stigmas reflexed 

 umbrella-like over the style. Ovules many, anatropous or almost 

 amphitropous. Fruit baccate or rarely at last 3-valved, often 3- 

 angled or 6-costate. 



1. TACCA, Forst. 

 Characters of the family : — Fruit baccate or indehiscent. 



1. T. pinnatifida, Forest. Dhai, A'., S. 



An interesting herb with a large globose tuber and long-petioled 

 succulent leaves which remind one of some aroids, being 3-partite 

 Avith each segment, very coarsely unequally pinnatifidly lobed. Flowers 

 broadly campanulate, greenish, •3-- 5" long on pedicels -5-1" long. 

 Inner filiform bracts 3-4-5" long. Fruit about \", 6-ribbed, yellow. 



Among rocks in the forest and more open jungles. Singbhum ! Manbhum ! 

 Hazaribagh ! Fl. Aug.-Sept. 



Tuber said to attain 12" diam. in cultivation. L. 1-2 ft. wide, lower part of 

 the segments with a sinuous, lobed or toothed wing and more or less oblong leaflets, 

 upper j)art usually terminating ui three very much larger elliptic or ovate leaflets 

 3-6" long with often a wavy or lobed margin. Involucral bracts 4-12, subequal 

 or very uneciual and variously linear, oblong or acuminate or with 2-lobed tip, 

 .sometimcb stiiped purple. 



The tuber, which is acrid and poisonous when fresh, yields a nutritious starch 

 when macerated and repeatedly washed with cold water. 



FAM. 151. BROMELIACE^. 



Herbs, rarely shrubby or arboreous, very often epiphytic, mostly 

 with clustered radical rosettes of leaves spirally arranged with the 



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