584 CLXXI. ERIOCAULSJS. (J. D. Hooker.) [Eriocaulon. 



bracts spreading and incurved obovate-oblong shining, floral oblanceolate 

 acute tips hoary, male sepals glabrous, fern. fl. pedicelled, sepals cymbiform, 

 petals short filiform penicillate above the middle with long spreading hairs, 

 ovary with petals sessile. 



NILGHIEI HILLS; Schmidt. CEYLON, Walker, Thwaites (C.P. 790, in part). 



Leaves 1-2^ by ^ ~i in., few- or many-nerved, opaque. Scapes flexuous ; tips of 

 sheath acuminate, not membranous. Heads i in. diam. ; receptacle convex, densely 

 villous ; fl. bracts greenish -brown scarious ; male sepals 3 (2 connate) glabrous or 

 nearly so, petals very small, stamens 6 ; fern, sepals nearly glabrous, dorsally rounded 

 or subcarinate. Seeds oblong with papillose striae. Well marked by the slender 

 fern, petals, much like those of E. sexangulare. The Nilghiri specimens are much 

 smaller and narrower leaved than the Cingalese. 



41. E. collinum, Hook.f.', leaves short narrowly linear or subulate, 

 scapes many, heads globose dark grey, invol. bracts small, outer very short 

 cuneate-obovate, floral oblanceolate or spathulate acute acuminate or cus- 

 pidate dorsally hoary or the outer glabrous, male petals 3 small one often 

 largest and exserted beyond the sepals but not beyond the bracts, fern, 

 fl. pedicelled, sepals 2 cymbiform 3rd flat, petals narrowly oblanceolate 

 ciliate, ovary and petals sessile or shortly stipitate. E. luzulaefolium, Thw. 

 Enum. 341. 



NILGHIRI HILLS, FonlTces, Schmidt, Gardner ; Conoor, 7000 ft., Clarice. 

 CEYLON; Newera Elia, Gardner, &c., alt. 4000 ft. (C.P. 796, 1000). 



"Densely tufted. Leaves 1-2^ by ^a~i m -> obtuse, compressed, 1-9-nerved, 

 opaque or translucent. Scapes 1^-12 in., rigid, flexuous ; sheath stout, equalling or 

 shorter than the leaves, tip obtuse membranous. Heads % in. diam. ; invol. bracts 

 scarious, at length reflexed ; receptacle hemispheric or columnar, densely villous j 

 sepals of male and fern. dark. The well developed male petals distinguish this 

 species from the others of this section except E. Walkeri, in which they are sub- 

 equal. In Wight's Herbarium there are specimens (without habitat) of this or 

 a closely allied plant, smaller in size, in which the male petals are equal. 



42. IS. achiton, Kcern. in Linnsea, xxvii. (1854), 630 ; small, leaves 

 subulate, scapes twice as long, heads very smalljiemispheric few-fld., invol. 

 bracts erect cuneiform pale, tip truncate or rounded, floral obovate- 

 spathulate hirsute or hoary, fern. fl. shortly pedicelled, sepals 2 slender, 

 petals 3 or 0, ovary with petals stipitate. 



KHASIA HILLS ; alt. 4-5000 ft., Griffith (Kew Distrib. 5376), Clarke. 



Leaves |-1 in., flattened, opaque, 3-5-nerved at the base. Scapes few, filiform ; 

 sheath finely acuminate, tip not membranous. Heads iV" m * diam. ; invol. bracts 

 few, coriaceous, shining; floral incurved, nearly glabrous; receptacle hemispheric, 

 villous j flowers shortly pedicelled ; male sepals 2, narrow ; petals minute or obsolete ; 

 stamens few ; fern, sepals filiform linear or dilated and concave towards the hairy 

 tips, petals in the most developed heads 3, narrowly oblanceolate, ciliate. Seeds 

 oblong, transversely striolate, red-brown. Very near the E. nigricans, Br. of 

 Australia. 



43. E. xeranthemum, Mart, in Wall. PL As. Ear. iii. 29 ; Wall. 

 Gat. 6084 ; dwarf, leaves subulate acuminate, scapes twice as long stout, 

 heads broadly obconic, invol. bracts erect, outer much longer than the floral 

 lanceolate -acuminate, floral obovate-oblong or oblanceolate tips hirsute, 

 fern. fl. subsessile, sepals 2 narrow tips ciliate, petals 3 narrowly oblanceo- 

 late ciliate, ovary with petals shortly stipitate. Kuntli Enum. iii. 555. 

 Steud. Syn. PI. Gyp. 270 ; Ko&rn. in Linnsea, xxvii. 624. E. pygmsBum, Dalz. 

 in Hook. Kew Journ. iii. (1851), Dalz. & Gibs. Bomb. Fl. 280. E. xeranthe- 

 moides, Heurck fy Muell. Arg. Obs. Sot. 103. 



