Canna.] C^LIX. SCITAMINE^. (J. G. Baker.) 2G1 



Rootstock tuberous, with mauy fibres. Stem 3-4 ft. Leaves oblong, acute, 

 lower 1 ft. or more. Bracts % in., ovate, green. Sepals small, lanceolate. Corolla- 

 tube i-J in. ; lobes 1 in., lanceolate, greenish. Outer staminal segments 3, bright 

 red, oblanceolate, 1^ in. by _ in. ; lip rather shorter ; anther in. Capsule 

 globose, i~f in. Seeds black, the size of a pea. 



Var. PLAVA, Hose. Scit. PI. t. 13 ; stature of the type, staminal segments plain 

 bright yellow. C. flavescens, Link; Horan. Prodr. 41. 



Var. C. NEPALENSIS, Wall. Cat. 6622 (sp.); stem much taller, leaves larger, 

 corolla-segments 1| in., outer staminal segments usually 3 bright red not emarginate, 

 capsule above 1 in. Bouche in Linnosa, viii. 158 ; Horan. Prodr. 15. Nepal, 

 Wallich. 



Var. C. SPECIOSA, Rose. Scit. PI. t. 17 (sp.); much taller than the type, 

 leaves larger, outer staminal segments 2 acute bright red with a channelled 

 yellow claw, lip variegated with red and yellow. Herb, in Bot. Mag. t. 2317 ; 

 Wall, in Bot. Reg. t. 1276 ; Horan. Prodr. 16. Nepal and Kumaon. 



Another Indian form, unknown to me, is C. exigua, Bouche; Horan. Prodr. 

 16. The American form to which Roscoe and Horaninow restrict the name 

 INDICA is figured Kosc. Scit. PI. t. 1 ; Bot. Reg. t. 776. 



23. XKUSA, Linn. 



Stem subarborescent, of convolute leaf sheaths. Leaves very large, 

 oblong. Flowers in an erect or decurved spike, bubunisexual, lower female, 

 upper male; bracts large, spathaceons ovate or orbicular. Calyx slit 

 down one side to the base, 3-5-lobed. Corolla as long as the calyx or 

 shorter, wrapped round the stamens and style. Perfect stamen* 5, sixth 

 rudimentary or 0; filaments stout, filiform; anthers linear, erect, 2-celled. 

 Ovary 3-celled ; ovules many, superposed ; style filiform from a thickened 

 base ; stigma subglobose 6-lobed. Fruit fleshy, indehiscent, oblong or 

 fusiform, trigonous. Seeds subglobose or angled by pressure. Species 

 -"about 20 ; tropics of the Old World. 



* Not stoloniferous, dying after flowering. Bracts many-fld. Fruit 

 not pulpy and edible. 



1. Itt. superba, Roxb. Hort. Beng. 19; Corom. PL t. 223; Fl. 



Ind. i. 667 ; stem short stout ovoid, leaves sessile on the sheath, bracts 

 large orbicular many-fid, dull red, calyx 3-cleft, petal shorter than the 

 calyx obcordate with a large mucro, fruit oblong subcoriaceous. Wall. 

 Cat. 5166; Wight Ic. t. 2017; Grah. in Bot. .Mag. t. 3849-3850 ; Dalz. & 

 Gibs. Bomb. Fl. 272 ; Horan. Prodr. 41. M. textilis, Grah. Cat. PI. Bomb. 

 213, non JS'i'.'.c-. 



WESTEEN GHATS. 



Whole plant 10-12 ft* Stem covered with the persistent sheaths of the 

 leaves. Leaves 8-10 ft., narrowed to the base. Spike drooping ; lower bracts 

 nearly a foot long and broad ; upper crowded, persistent ; flowers biseriate, 20-30 

 or more to a bract. Calyx 1-1 in.; lobes three, linear, loosely cohering. Corolla 

 I in. Fruit trigonous, 3 by 1-J in. Seeds - in. diam. smooth, brown, sub- 

 gbbose. 



2. 1. nepalensis, Wall, in Roxl. Fl. Ind. ed.Wall. & Carey, ii. 492 ; 

 stem short stout ovoid, leaves sessile on the sheath, bracts large ovate 

 many-fld. dull purple, calyx 3-cleft, petal obcordate with a large mucro 

 shorter than the calyx, fruit oblong subcoriaceous. Horan. Prodr. 41. 



Lower hills of NEPAL, Wallich. 



