550 CLXVI. AROIDE^E. (J. D. Hooker.; 



27. LASIA, Lour. 



A stout spino us marsh plant; rhizome branched and petiole peduncle 

 and leaf nerves beneath all prickly. Leaves long-petioled, hastate, entire 

 or pedately pinnatifid. Spathe very long, narrow, fleshy, twisted, base 

 convolute, deciduous. Spadix short, cylindric, dense-fld., flowering down- 

 wards. Sepals 4-6, obovate, tips truncate incurved. Stamens 4-6, fila- 

 ments short, flat ; anther-lobes parallel, slits extrorse. Ovary ovoid, 1-celled, 

 1-ovuled; style stoat; stigma depressed; ovule pendulous from the top of 

 the cell, anatropous or semi-anatropous. Berries obpyramidal, 6-sided, top 

 warted or muricate. Seed compressed, rugose, exalbuminous ; embryo 

 macropodal. 



Zi. heterophylla, Schott Melet. 21 ; Kunth Enum. iii. 67 ; Miq. FL 

 Ind. Bat. iii. 176. L. Zollingeri, Jenkinsii, and Hermanni, Schott in Bon- 

 pland. v. (1857) 125. L. desciscens, Schott in Ann. Mus. Lugd. Bat. i. 

 127. L. Boxburghii, Griff. Itin. Notes, iii. 155 ; Notul. iii. 155. L. spinosa, 

 Thw. Enum. 336 ; Engl. Monog. Arac. 273. Pothos Lasia, Roxb. FL Ind. i. 

 438; Wall. Cat. 4447. P. heterophylla, Roxb. I.e. 437; Wight Ic. t. 777. 

 P. spinosa, Ham. in Wall. Gat. 4447. Dracontium spinosurn, Linn. Sp. 

 PL 967. 



From tropical SIKKIM HIMALAYA, ASSAM, BENGAL, and BURMA, southwards to 

 SINGAPORE and CEYLON. DISTBIB. Malay Islds., China. 



RootstocJc 1 in. diain. Leaves 6-18 in. long, rigidly coriaceous, young hastate or 

 sagittate with broad or narrow basal lobes, older often broader than long, and deeply 

 pinnatifid, base cordate, lobes 1-costate acuminate ; petiole terete, 2-4 ft., sheathing 

 towards the base. Peduncle about as long as the petiole, slender. Spathe 8-14 in., 

 claret-colrd., opening at the base only. Spadix about 1 in., claret-colrd., fruiting 

 4-5 in. and 1 in. diain . 



28. PODOLASI A, N. E. Br. 



Habit and characters of Lasia, and like it prickly, but the leaves are 

 always entire, the spathe short, open to the base, the ovute is laterally 

 attached towards the base of the ovarian cells, and the berries are globose, 

 quite smooth, and entirely exserted beyond the sepals. 



P. stipitata, N. E. Br. in Gard. Chron. 1882, ii. 70. ' 



PERAK, Scortechini, King's Collector. DISTRIB. Borneo. 



Rootstock as thick as the little finger or thicker, creeping. Leaves 8-14 in., 

 broad or narrow, hastate or sagittate, 6-12 in. broad across the insertion of the 

 petiole ; basal lobes parallel divaricating or horizontal, ^-4 in. broad, acute or acu- 

 minate ; petiole as long as the blade or shorter, slender. Peduncle shorter than the 

 petiole, very slender. Spathe 3-5 in., narrowly cymbiform, deep red. Spadix about 

 as long as the spathe, red ; stipes -5 in. Berries % in. diam., few on the spadix, 

 red. 



29. CYRTOSFER1VIA, Griff. 



Perennial warted or prickly herbs. Leaves hastate. Spathe expanded, 

 straight or twisted, base convolute or not, persistent. Spadix short, dense- 

 fid., flowering downwards. Sepals 4-8, truncate, tip incurved. Stamens 

 4-8, filaments short, flat; anthers ovate-oblong, slits extrorse. Ovary 1- 

 celled; stigma sessile, pulvinate; ovules 1 or more, semi-anatropous, pen- 

 dulous by long funicles from near the middle of the cell. Berries crowded, 



