572 cxxxvi. UBTICACEJS. (J. D. Hooker.) [Elatostema. 



Stem 2-3 ft. long or more, stout or slender ; base rooting. Leaves blackish preen 

 when dry, often sparsely setulose above, nerves 3-5 pairs, spreading, laxly reticulate ; 

 eystoliths invisible ; stipules -i in., lanceolate or linear-oblong, acute, obtuse or 

 apiculate. Receptacles dioecious, or monoecious with the fern, below ; males |-| in. 

 diam.; peduncles ^ 1-^ in., slender; in vol. bracts glabrous, outer confluent, horns 

 -^ in. laterally flattened, flowers small; fern, recepts with small invol. bracts, and 

 bracteoles and minute achenes as in E. sikkimense, but sessile. 



26. ZS. stellatum. Hook. f. stem erect rusty-puberulous, leaves 

 4-6 in. sessile submembranous falcately oblong caudate-acuminate 

 coarsely serrate in the upper half, base acute, nerves glabrous beneath, 

 male and fern, recepts on long slender peduncles, invol. bracts very many 

 confluent below all with stellately spreading spur-like horns. 



SIZKIM HIMALAYA ; at Rungbee, alt. 4-5000 ft., Clarice. 



Stem 6-8 in., suberect from the base, rigid and red-brown when dry. Leaves 

 quite glabrous, thicker than in E. sikkimense and nasutum, cystoliths small many and 

 obvious in some leaves, invisible in others ; base always acute; nerves rather strong ; 

 stipules -J in., linear-oblong, acute. Eecepts dicecious or monoecious with the males 

 above, -i-f in. diam. ; peduncles 1-2 in., filiform ; invol. bracts confluent in a fleshy 

 puberulous disk, outer broadly triangular ; tips of both inner and outer free, sub- 

 ulate, -^ in. long, with here and there one twice or thrice as long ; male fl. pinkish, 

 sepals rounded ; fern. fl. very minute ; bracteoles fimbriate, outer linear, inner 

 spathulate, and achenes as in E. sikkimense. 



27. E. surculosum, Wight Ic. t. 2091, f. 4; stem erect from the 

 rooting base tufted glabrous or pubescent above stout or slender, leaves 

 |-3 in. glabrous sessile membranous or coriaceous polymorphous subentire 

 crenate serrate or pinnatifid each with a small oblong subopposite one 

 that is often deflexed, cystoliths numerous, stipules minute, male recepts 

 sessile long-peduncled, invol. bracts of male rounded or the outer horned, 

 fern, smaller sessile, achene slender ribbed. Wedd. Monogr. 329. E. 

 diversifolium, Wedd. in DC. Prodr. xvi. i. 189. E. laetum, Wedd. in Ann. 

 So. Nat. Rer. 4, i. 190. Procris diversifolia, elegans & keta, Wall. Cat. 

 4631, 4632, 4637. ? P. monandra, Ham. in Don Prodr. 61. 



TEMPEEATE HIMALAYA, from Simla, alt. 4-7COO ft., to Sikkim, alt. 4-9000 ft. 

 The KHASIA Mxs., abundant, alt. 4-6000 ft. NAGA HILLS, alt. 9000 ft., Clarke. 

 NILGHIBI MTS., Wight. CEYLON; Central Province, ascending to 6000 ft. 



Dicecious or monoecious. Stem 3-12 in., stout and fleshy or slender, always 

 tufted, prostrate or ascending, base not or very shortly creeping, stoloniferous. Leaves 

 usually numerous, increasing in size upwards, membranous coriaceous or almost- 

 fleshy, small opposite ones T V~ in., green, usually oblong, obtuse, entire, the larger 

 sometimes imbricate upwards and the smaller imbricate downwards ; in form they 

 vary from almost orbicular to cuneiform elliptic oblong ovate-lanceolate lanceolate 

 or falcately oblanceolate ; they are always perfectly glabrous, green or yellowish 

 when dry ; the tips vary from obtuse to caudate, the margins usually in the upper 

 half only, but sometimes from the base, subentire to 2-3 crenate, or many-toothed 

 serrate or pinnatifid, the bases from very acute to obtuse and rounded, very rarely 

 subauricled on one side ; nerves few faint, even in the most membranous forms, basal 

 pair prolonged to the middle or beyond it. Male recepts -g~ in. diam., pale green ; 

 peduncles longer than the leaves, sometimes three or four times as long, very slender ; 

 invol. bracts free, broad, membranous, all rounded or one or more with a very broad 

 spreading or recurved acute laterally compressed spur or horn, the base of which 

 occupies the whole length of the bract; flowers few, long-pedicelled ; fern, very 

 much smaller; bracteoles ciliate. I have seen no Nilghiri specimens. The small 

 subopposite leaves are the best character for this species, which is extraordinarily 

 protean in habit and foliage. The following are extreme forms, which seem to pass 

 into one another in a perplexing way. 



