CLXVI. AROIDE.E. (J. D. Hooker.) 523 



18. COXiOCASXA, Linn. 



Tall coarse herbs, tuberous or with a stout short caudex, flowering and 

 leafing together. Leaves stoutly petioled, peltate, ovate-cordate. Spathe 

 stoutly peduncled ; tube thick, accrescent, persistent, mouth constricted ; 

 limb erect, deciduous. Spadix shorter than the spathe, stout or slender ; 

 male and fern. infl. with usually interposed flat neuters ; appendage 

 cylindric subulate or 0. Ovaries and ovules as in Remusatia. Berries 

 obconic or oblong. Seeds oblong, sulcate, albumen copious ; embryo axile. 

 Species 6 or 7 tropical Asiatic. 



1. C. Antiquorum, Schott Melet. i. 18 ; Syn. 40 ; Prodr. 38 ; leaves 

 large ovate with a broad triangular basal sinus, tube of spathe oblong 2-4 

 times shorter than the narrow lanceolate limb, appendage very variable. 

 Miquel Fl. Ind. Bat. iii. 202 ; Kunth Unum. iii. 37 ; Thwaites Enum. 335 ; 

 Benih. Fl. Austral. vii. 155; Engler Arac. 491 and/6'o.merf.No.251. C. escu- 

 lenta, and acris, Schott Melet. i. 18 ; Kunth 1. c. C. nymphgeifolia, Kunth I.e. 

 C. Fontanesii, Schott in (Estr. Bot. Wochenbl. (1854), 409. C. pruinipes, Koch 

 $ Bouche', Ind. Sem. Hort. Berol. (1854), 4. C. euchlora, C.Koch. 6f Lindl.l. c. 

 App. Caladium esculenturn, Vent. Hort. Cels. 30 ; Willd. Sp. PI. iv. 489 ; C. 

 acre, Br. Prodr. 336 ; C. nymphaeifblium, Vent. I. c. ; Griff. Notul. iii. 144, t. 

 161 B. 2 (ovules). Arum Colocasia. Linn. Sp. PI. 965 ; Roxb. Fl. Ind. iii. 

 494 ; Grah. Gat. Bomb. PI. 228 ; Wight Ic. t. 786, f. 1. A. nymphseifolium, 

 Hoxb. & Grah. II. cc. ; Wight 1. c. f. 2. A. peltatum, Lam. JEncycl. iii. 

 13. Colocasia, Wall. Cat. 8943 Rheede Hort. Mai. xi. t. 23. 



Throughout the hotter parts of INDIA (up to 7600 ft. in the Himalaya) and 

 CJCYLON, in moist and dry places, wild or cultivated. DISTRIB. cult, in all hot 

 countries. 



Leaves 6-16 in., dark green, dull, sometimes clouded with black; petiole stout, 

 3-4 ft., green or violet. Peduncles solitary or clustered and connate, much shorter 

 than the petioles. Spathe 8-18 in., caudate-acuminate, erect, pale yellow. Spadix 

 shorter than the spathe ; fern. infl. as long as that of the staminodes, male infl. 

 longer. Very common and variable, Roxburgh distinguishes 3 varieties besides 

 nympksifolia, they are 1, a dark one from wet places in which the roots (base of stem?) 

 naver swell, but send out many suckers, and the leaves and petioles are more or less 

 purple, it is much eaten ; 2, one that grows on dry ground with dark purple or 

 bluish clouds in the leaf ; 3, one like the last but all green. Of nymphceifolia, which, 

 he describes as having repand leaves. He says that ne doubts if it is anything but a 

 large aquatic state, abundant wild on borders of lakes, with the subterraneous stem 

 often as long and thick as a man's arm, reddish petioles peduncles and leaves, 

 narrower leaves, and a short appendage ; all parts are eaten. 



2. C. affinis, Schott in Bonpland. (1859) 28 ; Prodr. 138; leaves ovate 

 or orbicular-ovate base rounded retuse or cordate nerves very slender, tube of 

 spathe cylindric 4-6 times shorter than the linear-lanceolate long acuminate 

 limb, appendage as long or twice as long as the infl., stigma sessile disci- 

 form. Engler Arac. 492. Colocasia, No. 3, Herb. Ind. Or. Hf. & T. Alocasia 

 Jenningsii, Veitch in HI. Hort. (1869), t. 585 ; Gard. Chron. (1869), 136 ; 

 Flora des Serres, xvii. 1818. Aroid. Wall. Gat. 8952 B. 



SIKKIM HIMALAYA, King. ASSAM, Hamilton. KHASIA HILLS, alt. 2-4000 ft. 

 J. D. H. and T. T. BURMA ; Prome Hills, WallicJi. * 



Tuber small. Leaves 4-6 in. long and nearly as broad, membranous, green with 

 dark blotches between the nerves, glaucous beneath, tip obtuse or acute; petiole 

 slender, 6-8 in. Peduncle 3-5 in. Spathe 4-6 in., tube 1 in., tumid, green j limb 

 primrose yellow. Spadix with a narrow neck between the male and fern. infl. 



