Barclaya.'] flora indica. 245 



rivers. We have, in the observations under the Natural Order, indicated the mor- 

 phological differences between the structure of the flower of Nymphaa and Euryale. 

 A detailed description of its mode of germination will be found in Roxburgh's f Flora 

 Indica/ according to which, and to Planchon's and our own observations at Kew, the 

 process is exactly that of Victoria regia, and differs from Nymph aa in the radicle 

 being even less developed perpendicularly, but sending out short, horizontal, often 

 branched arms, that perform the office of rootlets to the radicle. The elongating 

 plumule bears two strictly opposite primary leaves, one of which remains as a subulate 

 petiole and the other bears a very long linear lamina, with a hastate base, and -jives 

 off adventitious rootlets from its petiole: within the first pair a third is developed 

 sheathed in an opposite stipule, which much resembles the vaginate petiole of one of 

 the second pair of leaflets of Nymphtza. 



The only known species is also a native of China, where it has been cult ivated 

 for its edible seeds, from time immemorial. Planchon has made a second species of 

 this, founded on a description of E.ferox, the fruit of which Salisbury describes as 

 being 80-100-seeded, which is no doubt a misprint for 8-10, the number I find in 

 the original specimens from which his description was drawn up. The seeds vary 

 exceedingly in size, from a small pea to a nut, and the starch grains of the albu- 

 men are so minute as to exhibit the " Brownian motion n under a sufficiently high 

 power. The testa is always hard and almost bony, and smooth or wrinkled. 



The large fruits of this plant are sold in the markets of Eastern Bengal, stripped 

 of their spiny pericarp ; and the seeds are roasted and eaten as food and medicine. 

 These seeds have been found by Dr. Falconer in tertiary beds of peat near Calcutta, 

 a district the plant does not now inhabit. 



1. E. ferox (Salisb. Ann. Bot. ii. IS).— DC. Syst. ii. 40, Prod. i. 114; 



Roxb. Plant. Cor. iii. t. 244 ; Bot. Mag. t. 1447 ; Planchon, Etudes, I.e. 

 29. E. Indica, Planchon, I. c. Anneslea spinosa, Roxb. PI. hid. ii. 573 ; 

 Andrews, Bot. Rep. t. 618. 



Hab. In paludibus Chit higong, Roxburgh ! Bengalise orientalis ! ; iii 

 provincia Oude planitiei Gangeticse superioris, Boyle ; Kashmir! — (Fl. 

 hieme et vere.) (v. v.) 



Distrib. China! 



Rhizoma breve. Folia ovalia v. orbicularia, 1-4 ped. diametro, supra viridia, subtus 

 puberula, lscte purpurea v. rubra. Flores 1-2 poll.longi. Sepala et ovariun 

 horrida. Bacca 2-4 unc. diametr. Semina magnitudine pisi parvi vel 

 testa crassa, kevi v. subrugosa. 



Royle mentions that' the Euryale is found, but no doubt in a cultivated state, in 



the plains near Saharanpur. 



3. BARCLAYA, Wall. 



Sepala 5, basi ovarii inserta. Petala membra nacea, apici tori 

 ovario accreti cum staminibus inserta, supera. Stamina altematim 

 multiseriata, annulo tori intus inserta, e filamentis brcvibus incurvis 

 pendula, superiora sterilia. Ovarium e carpellis sub-10 arete concretia, 

 apice conicum; stigmatibus totidem conniventibus in conum apice 

 fissum coadunatis, intus stigmatiferis. Ovula plurima, parietibus ovarii 

 undique inserta. Bacca globosa, annulo tori et corollae coronata. 

 Semina spluerica, echinata ; testa subcoriacea. Albmnen et embryo ut 

 in Nymphaa. — Herba aquatica Potamogetonis facie, rhizomate brevi 

 erecto villoso, pedunculis elongatis y foliis anguste Hneari-oblongis obtusis 

 basi Jiastato-bilobis membranaceis penninerviU glaberrimis v. subtus pu- 



cerasi 



