Michardia.'] CL. aroide^ (brown). 167 



11. mCHAIlDIA, Kunth; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. PI. iii. 982. 



Spathe convolute in the lower half, funnel-shaped, persistent ; limb 

 oblique, open, suberect or recurving, terminating in a subulate point. 

 Spadix monoecious, free, sessile or stipitate, much shorter than the 

 spathe ; male and female parts contiguous ; appendix none ; staminodes 

 are sometimes mixed with the ovaries, but there are no other barren 

 organs. Perianth none. Ovaries numerous, crowded, subglobose, 

 angular from mutual pressure, 2-3-celled ; style short or almost none; 

 stigma discoid. Ovules 2—4 in each cell, on axile placentas, anatropous. 

 Anthers sessile, crowded, oblong, compressed, truncate at the apex, 

 2-celled, cells opening by terminal pores. Berry broadly obovoid or 

 subglobose, 1-3-celled ; cells 1-2-seeded. Seed subglobose or ovoid, 

 slightly angular ; testa rather thin ; albumen copious ; embryo axile. 

 Herbs with a thick jfleshy rhizome. Leaves contemporary with the 

 flowers, all radical, with long petioles, and hastate, sagittate, cordate or 

 lanceolate blades. Peduncles solitary, as long as or longer than the 

 leaves. Spathe large, showy, white, yellow, or rosy, persisting and 

 changing to green as the fruit develops. 



A small genus confined to Tropical and Soutli Africa. 

 Leaves spotted. 



Leaves ovate-cordate or orbicular-cordate ; spathe 



without a purple-brown blotch at the base . 1. R. elliottiana. 

 Leaves hastate ; spathe with a dark purple-brown 



blotch at tlie base . . . . . . 2. R. melanoleiica. 



Leaves without spots ; spathes with a dark purple- 

 brown blotch at the base (see also the young state 

 of 2, R. melanoleuca). 

 Leaf with the ovate-deltoid part above the basal- 

 lobes nearly twice as long as broad ; spathe 

 light yellow . . . . . . . 3. R. hastaia. 



Leaf with the elongated-deltoid or elongated-oblong 

 part above the basal-lobes 2-5 times as long as 

 broad; spathe deep golden-yellow . . .4. R. angiistiloha. 



1. R. elliottiana^ W. Wats, in Garden and Forest^ 181)2, 380. 

 Leaves glabrous ; petiole 2 ft. or more long, smooth, without bristles ; 

 blade bright green, marked with numerous transparent white elongated 

 spots, 9-11 in. long, G~10 in. broad, ovate or orbicular-ovate, obtuse, 

 with a subulate point at the apex, cordate at the base ; basal lobes very 

 broadly rounded; sinus about 2 in. deep. Peduncle longer than the 

 leaves, smooth, green. Spathe 5-G in. long, bright golden-yellow, 

 without a purple blotch at the base inside ; tube funnel-shaped ; limb 

 oblique, subhorizontally spreading, obtuse, with a subulate point. 

 Spadix about half as long as the spathe, cylindric, obtuse. Ovaries 

 subglobose, angular from mutual pressure, pale greenish ; stigma sessile, 

 discoid. Staminodes none. Anthers orange-yellow. Berries large, 

 about I in. diam., obovoid or subglobose, green. — Duren in Rev. Hort. 

 Beige, 1897, 13, with pi.; Bot Mag. t. 7577. Calla elliottiana, Knight 



