1. DioscoREA.] 152. D108C0REACEM. 



mostly in short axillary panicles 4-6" in length. Capsules -5" long, 

 excluding the short obconic base, and 1" broad, depressed (subcordate) 

 top and bottom, margin of wings thickened, rarely quite glabrous. 



Common in the moister forests. Purneah ! Chota Nagpur, all districts ! 

 Angul ! Fl. Sept.-Xov. Fr. Dec.-Jan. 



An easily recognized Yam from its pubescence and its potato-like axillary 

 bulbils, which are 1-2" across Avith a thin greenish or grey brown skin, without 

 conspicuous eyes. The tuber is about • 5" diam. at the neck and 1-1 ■ 5" in middle 

 covered with rootlets. Leaves attain 10" by 10", acute or actiminate, with a 

 characteristic silvery appearance beneath, costa? 7 with obliquely transverse sec. n., 

 raised beneath, upper surface dull. Petiole half to as long as blade, pubescent. 

 M. sep. -05" long, broadly oblong or ovate-oblong obtuse, petals shorter ovate 

 membranous, slightly imbricate in bud, glabrous or somewhat pubescent outside, 

 membranoiis or somewhat mesially thickened. St. 6 perfect, small, adnate to 

 tepals to half way up. Bract ovate acuminate reaching nearly half-way up flower, 

 deflexed, base somewhat decurrent on rhachis, pubescent. Fern, ovary densely 

 pubescent or tomentose, not at all beaked, perianth -05" long, both sepals and 

 petals much thickened at base with age, bearing a staminode on the callus, sep. 

 broadly ovate rounded, petals rather smaller. Seed winged all roiuid. 



The tubers are eaten and are usually said to be good, but they are sometimes 

 reported to have an offensive smell when cooked. The bulbils are also eaten. 



2. D. oppositifolia, L. Pani-alu, Or. 



Stems often purplish when young, swollen at the nodes, unarmed, 

 sparingly puberulous, fleshy beloAv and ending a few inches below the 

 surface in a very small stock and a fascicle of tubers, ends of shoots 

 pubescent. Leaves green and shining both sides, oblong to broadly 

 eUiptic, all opposite, cuspidate, mostly 2-5-3" long with translucent 

 dashes, 3-5-nerved, of which 3 unite in the tip, glabrous or nearly so, 

 margin thinly cartilaginous. Petiole half as long as blade or much 

 less. Male spikes dense -5- -8" long, subverticillate, false whorls on 

 an axillarj^ rhachis 1-4" long or on a long terminal pendulous rhachis 

 1 ft. or more long which is thinly pubescent or hair3\ Fls. sweet- 

 scented -08- -09" yellow-green herbaceous on a very broad base on 

 the deflexed suborbieular but cuspidate bract, sepals orbicular oblong 

 concave 2-2 mm. or -06" long with pale margins, glabrous, petals 

 obovate or obovate-oblong slightly fiesh}^ 2 mm. or about fths as 

 long as sepals only. St. 6 erect. Pistillode of three green glands. 

 Fern, with short beak between ovary and perianth. Capsule -9" 

 long, 1 • 5" wide, depressed base and apex. 



Angid, in the moister forests ! Fl. Aug-Sept. Fr. I^Tov. 



In the Cent. Provinces List 1 united this with D. glabra on account of the diffi- 

 culty in separating them in the herbarium from published descriptions, but I have 

 now found the true oppositifolia, and the two species are absolutely distinct and 

 easily recognized in the forest. The most conspicuous marks of oppositifolia in 

 the forest are the very broad, sometimes almost parallel-sided and sub-truncate 

 leaves with sudden cusp, never glaucous beneath and not cordate (or very slightly 

 so in lowest leaves). Petioles relatively shorter than in glabra. Shoots and fem. 

 rhachis pubescent (sometimes glabrous according to F.B.I.). Smell of flowers 

 different. 



Tubers proceeding direct from the fleshy end of the rootstock, several, with a 

 narrow neck, then fusiform downwards, 6-8" long. Cusp of leaves glandular when 

 j'oung ; in addition to the .5 nerves there is sometimes a weak basal pair close' to 

 margin, base rounded or very obtuse, not cordate. Bract of male flower with the 

 base decurrent on the rhachis both sides of the flower, undertone-third as long as 

 the flower and bracteole nearly as long as bract. Petals not as thick as in glabra. 

 Anthers 6 perfect ol)long, fil. as long as anther. Female rhachis solitary often 

 8" long, or panicled ; periantli -03- 04" long. Seed.s orbicular with large wing 

 all round. 



1118 



