f . 



580 OLXXI. ERIOCAULEJE. (J. D. Hooker.) [Eriocaulon ^ 



Densely tufted. Leaves | f in., compressed, opaque, 3-5-nerved, base dilated/ 

 and sparsely woolly within. Scapes l-2^ in., capillary, flexuous; sheath shortr 

 Heads -^ in. diam., shining; invol. bracts much longer than the floral, which are/'' 

 glabrous or sparsely hairy ; receptacle small, columnar, sparsely villous ; male calyx 

 infundibular, split on one side, tips bearded; petals minute; stamens 3-4; fern., 

 sepals 2, with rarely a filiform 3rd, falcately incurved with recurved tips, glabrous, 

 keel or wing spinulose. Seeds oblong. Resembles E. achiton, but invol.' bracts very 

 different. 



ftf Involucral bracts glabrous, floral bearded villous or pubescent. 

 Receptacle glabrous or sparsely hairy. 



29. E. sexang ulare, Linn. $p. PI. 87 ; tall, stout, leaves long, 

 scapes many tall, heads conoid or hemispheric hard hoary base truncate, 

 invol. bracts coriaceous subquadrate or orbicular, floral persistent densely 

 imbricate spathnlate cuspidate rigid, fern. fl. sessile, petals short filiform 

 with a terminal pencil of hairs, ovary with petals snbsessile. E. Wallichi- 

 anum, Mart, in Wall. PI. As. Ear. iii. 26, t. 249 ; Cat. 6068 ; Kunth Enum. 

 iii. 564 ; Nees in Nov. Act. Nat. Cur. xix., Suppl. i. 449 ; Steud. Syn. Gyp. 

 271 ; Kcern. in Linnsea, xxvii. 687 ; Thw. Enum. 341 ; Dalz. & Gibs. Bomb. 

 Fl. 280 ; Trimen in Journ. Linn. Soc. xxiv. 136. E. qnidrangulare, Lour. 

 Fl. Cockinch. 77. 



TENASSEKIM, southward to MALACCA ; and the DECCAN PENINSULA, from CANARA 

 southwards. CEYLON, Macrae, &c. (C.P. 220). DISTEIB. Tropical Asia, Mada- 

 gascar. 



Rootstock as thick as the little finger or less. Leaves 4-12 in., ~t in. broad at 

 the base, flat, narrowed up to the acuminate or subacute tip, many-nerved, opaque, 

 striate, drying brown. Scapes up to 18 in., stiff; tips of sheaths acuminate, not 

 membranous. Heads % in. diam. or less ; invol. bracts shining, horizontal, rigid, 

 appressed ; floral dark, rigid, with white tips ; receptacle globose columnar or 

 hemispheric, sparsely shortly pilose; flowers flat; male sepals free or connate, one 

 sometimes dorsally winged, petals minute; fern, sepals 3, 2 cymbiform incurved 

 acute dorsally crtnately winged or not, 3rd linear, narrow. Seeds subglobose or 

 oblong, the ridges papillose. In some Concan specimens from Dalzell the leaves are 

 i- in. broad, linear, flaccid, quite translucent, and the heads very small. The 

 Australian E. australe, Br., hardly differs. 



VAR. longifolium ; more slender, leaves often longer, fern. fl. dimerous, petals 



sparsely hairy from the middle upwards. E. longifolium, Nees in Herb. Willd. ex 



Kunth I. c. 567 ; Steud. I. c. ; Koern. I. c. 690. E. sexangulare, Willd. Herb. 

 Tenasseriin, Malacca, the Andaman Islands, and Ceylon. 



30. E. Dalzellii, Koern. in Linnsea, xxvii. 605 ; rhizome elongate, 

 leaves very slender finely acuminate, scapes many, heads hemispheric 

 white villous, invol. bracts scarious obovate- or cuneate-oblong, floral 

 hyaline oblanceolate subacute, fern. fl. pedicelled, sepals 2 linear slender, 

 petals 3 narrowly oblanceolate ciliate with flexuons hairs, ovary with 

 petals stipitate. E. rivulare, Dalz. in Hook. Kew Journ. iii. (1851) 280 ; 

 Dalz. & Gibs. Bomb. Fl. 280. 



SOUTH CONCAN ; in the Malwan Province, in streams, Dalzell. 



Rootstock elongate, prostrate, densely clothed with tortuous capillary rootlets. 

 Leaves in a terminal tuft, 4-10 by T V-To in -> flexuous, flattened, opaque, 7-nerved. 

 Scapes 7-18 in., 10-grooved. Heads % in. diam., base truncate or intruded ; invol. 

 bracts short, yellowish ; receptacle hemispheric or columnar, sparsely hairy ; fl. bracts 

 incurved, hairs caducous ; male sepals free or connate, tips villous, petals small 

 elliptic subequal ; stamens 6. Seeds globose, smooth, shining. Some flowerless very 



