Aletris.] OL. ELEMODORACE.E. (J. D. Hooker.) 265 



TEMPERATE and ALPINE HIMALAYA, from KASHMIR to BHOTAN, alt. 10-15,000 

 ft. DISTRIB. China. 



Leaves grass-like, 38 in. long, strongly nerved, rarely ^-in. diam. Scape 4-12 in., 

 nearly naked, glandular-pubescent or woolly above. Spike or raceme few or many- 

 fid., 1-4 in. ; tomeutose flowers 1 in. long, greenish, sessile or pedicelled ; bracts 

 1-2, close under the flower, linear, green, longer or shorter than the flowers, lower 

 sometimes f in. long ; perianth-lobes oblong, obtuse, recurved, 3-nerved. Bureau 

 and Franchet (in Morot, Journ. de Bot. V. 155,) observe that Tofieldia nepalensis, 

 Herb. Strachey & Wiuterb. No. 1 appears to belong to their A. lanuginosa ; adding 

 that Wallich's plant should be called A. nepalensis. 



2. A. sikkimensis, Hook. f. ; leaves 7-9-nerved ensiform, scape 

 tall, spike very long, flowers glabrous, ovary glabrous, capsule globosely 

 ovoid. 



SIKKIM HIMALAYA ; Lachen valley, alt. 9-12,000 ft. J. D. H. 



A much larger plant than A. nepalensis, with short narrowed leaves |-f in. broad, 

 and a leafy scape with the raceme 1-2 ft. high, and with linear smaller and much 

 narrower seeds. 



3. A. khasiana. Hook. f. ; leaves many-nerved, flowers glandular- 

 pubescent, anthers oblong, ovary puberulous, capsule ovoid-lanceolate. 



KHASIA HILLS, alt. 4-6GCO ft., common, Griffith, &c. 



Leaves grass-like, 4-12 in., -rarely in. broad, closely striately nerved. Scape 

 6-12 in., glandular-pubescent above. Floivers usually sessile, i in. long, yel- 

 lowish-red, pinkish or purplish ; bracts as in A. nepalensis. Seeds very minute, 

 reniform. 



2. FEIiIOSANTHES, Andr. 



Scapigerous herbs; rootstock liorizontal. Leaves narrow, linear or lan- 

 ceolate, subplicately nerved. Scape erect ; flowers small, racemed, bracts 

 scarious. Perianth superior, tube short, broadly campanulate ; lobes 6, 

 subequal, spreading. Stamens 6, filaments very short connate in a ring 

 almost closing the mouth of the perianth ; anthers subsessile, slits introrse. 

 Ovary inferior, top free conical, 3-celled ; stigma subsessile, 3-lobed ; ovules 

 2 or more, erect basal in each cell, anatropous. Fruit indehisceut. Seeds 

 few, bursting through the pericarp during ripening, and resting on the 

 base of the withered perianth, tube fleshy or succulent; embryo in the base 

 of the hard fleshy albumen. Species about 8, Indian and Malayan. 



The species of this genus are far from well defined. Better characters than those 

 hitherto employed for distinguishing them may perhaps be found in the number of 

 ovult-s, and form of the stamiual tube and anthers. 



* Bracts many-fld. 



1. P. Teta, Andr. Sot. Rep. t. 605 ; leaves long petioled 12-24 by 

 l|-3 in., nerves 10-20, scape stout shorter than the leaves, raceme many- 

 fld., Brown in Trans. Linn. Soc. 1817, 8; Kunth Enum v. 307; Bot. Mag. 

 t. 1302 ; Redoute Liliac. t. 415, Seichb. Mag. t- 14; Baker in Journ. Linn. 

 Soc. xvii. 505. P. violacea, Wall. Cat. 5084 (in part ?) Teta viridiflora, 

 Rosb. Fl. Lid. ii. 165. 



SIKKIM HIMALAYA, the KHASIA HILLS, ASSAM, CHITTAGONG and BURMA. 

 PENANQ-, Curtis. 



Leaves 2-7 ; petiole variable in length ; cross-neryules distinct when dry. Scape 

 naktd or with a few scales above aud large membranous sheaths at the base ; 

 raceme 6-12 in. ; bracts 1-3 to. every fascicle of flowers, variable in length ; pedicels 

 short ; flowers j- 3 - in. diam., purplish or bluish-green. Seeds as large as a pea, 

 olive-blue. 



