Dioscorea.'] OLIV. DIOSCOEEACEJJ. (J. D. Hooker.) 291 



ferous (except D. decipiens) ; anther-cells combined. Capsule (where 

 known) broader than long. Seeds orbicular, broadly winged all round. 



* Male flowers in long simple or nearly simple axillary spikes, distant, 

 or in distant clusters. 



; 7. D. spinosa, Roxb. ex Wall. Gat. 5703 A, B, C, E, F ; glabrous or 

 tomentose, leaves orbicular- or reniform-cordate, perianth subrotate, pistil- 

 lode large. D. aculeata, Roxb. Fl. Ind. iii. 800 (not of Linn.). D. sativa, 

 TAnn. Sp. PI. 1033 partly; Kuntli Enum. v. 341 (excl. /3). Thwaites Enum. 

 326 in note. D. tilisefolia, Kunth 1. c. 401. D. cymosula, Hem?l. Biol. 

 Gentr. Amer. Bot. iii. 355, v. t. 90. D. aculeata, Cerubjilium and echinata, 

 Herb. Ham. D. lanata, Balf. Bot. Socot. v. 28&^-Rheede Hort. Mai. 

 viii. t. o2.Rumpk. Ami), v. t. 126. 



TROPICAL INDIA, CEYLON, BUKMA and the MALAY PENINSULA, cultivated. 

 DISTBIB. Trop. America. 



Tub em very large; base of stem with long woody rigid fibres bearing spines half 

 an inch long. Stem terete, very spinous at the base. Leaves attaining 8 in. long and 

 broad, acuminate or cuspidate, 5-7-nerved, rather membranous, basal lobes rounded. 

 Male spikes 618 in. ; flowers ^ in. diam., often in very dense cymules, sessile or shortly 

 pedicelled ; bracteoles very broad ; perianth segments remote from the large oblong 

 pistillode; anthers large. Fern, raceme rather short. Capsule 1 in. diam., broadly 

 obcordate. I cannot adopt Roxburgh's name of aculeata for this, for it is not 

 Linnaeus' s plant of that name, which is Rheede's Katter Kalengra, and which has 

 panicled male spikes. Nor can I, as Kunth and Thwaites have, take Linnaeus' name 

 of sativa, though Rheede's figure of it is cited by Linnaaus under his sativa, be- 

 cause the plant figured in " Hortus Cliffortianus " must be accepted as sativa Linn., 

 it being cited by himself as his type. ^ 



8. D. dcltoidea, Wall. Cat. 5110; nearly glabrous, leaves hastately 

 or subdeltoidly-cordate acuminate 7-9-nerved, perianth sub-rotate, pistil- 

 lode minute. Kunth Enum. v. 340. 



TEMPEKATE HIMALAYA; from Kashmir to Bhotan alt. 6-1000 ft. KHASIA 

 HILLS, alt. 4-5000 ft. DISTKIB. Affghanistan. 



Branches very slender, terete, unarmed. Leaves attaining 7 by 5 in., mem- 

 branous, reticulate beneath, very variable in breadth and depth of lobing, lobes 

 rounded or subangular, sometimes dilated outward ; petiole 2-5 in., very slender. 

 Male spikes very slender, rarely branched; flowers T ^ in. diam., solitary or clustered ; 

 perianth-segments nearly flat ; stamens very short, anthers didymous. Capsule 

 very variable, orbicular, deltoid or obtusely quadrate, rarely broadly obcordate, base 

 rounded truncate or broadly cuneate ; valves very thin. Setds very variable in 

 form, winged all round or on one side. I hesitate to unite with this the Burmese 

 plant referred to it by Hemsley and Collett (Journ. Linn. Soc. xxviii. 137) which is 

 too imperfect for determination. 



9. D. Wig-htii, Hook.f. ; quite glabrous, leaves ovate-cordate acumi- 

 nate 7-nerved, perianth-segments erect, pistillode minute. 



TRAVANCOEE; Courtallam, Wight. 



In habit and foliage very like D. deltoidea, but the flowers are always solitary, 

 sessile by a broad base, the filaments much longer, and the anthers large and oblong. 

 Only one specimen seen. 



10. D. spicata, Rotli PI. Nov. 571 ; quite glabrous, leaves alternate 

 shortly petioled linear-oblong or lanceolate 3-rarely 5-nerved finely reticulate 

 beneath, flowers globose, pistillode large conical. Kunth Enum. vi. 399 ; 

 Thwaites Enum. 326. 



u 2 



