ON THE COMMELYNA TUBEROSA OF LOUREIRO. 251 
duplo brevioribus, perigonii phyllis exterioribus lanceolatis extus viri- 
dulis intus subcoloratis cum bracteis : pedicellisque infra medium arti- 
culatis pilis glandulis luteis capitatis obsitis interioribus sepalinis bis 
longioribus rhomboideis lilacinis vel rarius candidis, staminibus phyllis 
petalinis duplo brevioribus 2 phyllis sepalinis superioribus * oppositis 
fertilibus antheris luteis loculis parallelis 4 reliquis semper sterilibus ! 
connectivo oblongo cum antheris rudimentariis s hericis divergentibus 
luteis omnium filamentis barbatis phyllis petalinis concoloribus, stylo 
declinato stigmate minuto aspergilliformi, capsula oblonga trigona lo- 
culis tetraspermis, seminibus oblongis sordide lateritiis rore albido 
obduetis impresso-punetatis. In devexis ad radices montium Pak- 
wan, extra. Cantonem, vere 1867, satis copiose crescentem detexit in- 
defessus Sampson. (Exsicc. n. 13,842.) 
Several plants have apparently been confounded by authors under 
the name of Commelyna scapiffora; how many it is not easy to say. 
Roxburgh (Fl. Ind. i. 175) ascribes to his hysteranthous eciliate 
leaves, **appearing a month or two after the flowers," smooth stems 
(racemes), three fertile stamens, and blue anthers; in other respects 
his character agrees very well with ours. Royle's plate of his Mur- 
dannia scapiffora (Illus. Himal. Bot. t. 95, f. 3), which he considers 
identical with Roxburgh's plant, and also with C. longifolia, Wall. 
List, n. 5213, whilst Kunth (who makes no reference to Loureiro), on 
the other hand, thinks that, while it is also Roxburgh’s. species, it is 
rather Aneilema tuberosum, Ham. ; n. 5207, of the same list, is, on the 
whole, a good representation of the habit of the Chinese plant, but it 
differs also in the number of fertile stamens, and smooth stem and 
leaves. Dr. Wight’s dneilema scapiflorum (Ie. Pl. Ind. Or. vi. t. 207 3), 
for which he quotes with doubt the names of Roxburgh, Hamilton, 
and Royle, certainly looks very distinct, as he has himself observed ; 
and a Khasia specimen in my herbarium, gathered by Drs. Hooker 
and Thomson, differs toto celo by its narrow, elongated, eciliate 
with long, often verticillate 
ding to Wight. The limits 
of all are worth investigating by those who possess the requisite living 
materials; for in plants like these, à 
by the older botanists,—where the floral organs are of so fugacious a 
* In this plant the odd sepaline leaf is anticous, the odd petaline posticous, 
in relation to the axis. 
