CRINUM.] AMARYLLIDACEM. 247 



C. orchioides, Ocsrtn. Fruct. i, 63, t. 13 ; Roxb.; Fl hid. u, 

 144 ; F. B. I. vi, 279 ; Watt E. D.; Prain Beng. PL 1059 ; Cooke 

 Fl. Bomb, ii, 748.Vern. Musali-kand (Oudh), Mushali (Hind). 



Rootstock tuberous, stout, with many fleshy root-fibres. Leaves mem- 

 branous, sessile or stalked, 6-18 in. long, linear or linear-lanceolate 

 plicate, glabrous or sparsely and softly hairy, the tips sometimes 

 rooting when reaching the ground. Scape very short, clavate, flat- 

 tened, the pedicels bracts and ovary hidden by the leaf and sheaths. 

 Flowers bright yellow, distichous. Per -segments \-\ in. long, elliptic- 

 oblong, acute, hairy on the back. Ovary lanceolate ; cells 6-8-ovuled. 

 Berry J in. long, hypogeonus. Seeds J in. long ; testa deeply grooved, 

 black, shining. 



Abundant in the Sub -Himalayan tracts of Pilibhit and X. Oudh. also 

 in Merwara (Duthie, Burkill, etc.). DISTRIB. : Outer Him. ranges 

 from Kumaon eastwards, Khasia Hills, Manipur, south to Bengal. 

 W. Ghats, Konkon and Nilgiri Hills extending to Java, China and 

 the Philippines. The black root, a kind of musali is "ground and 

 eaten like flour at Balrampur in N. Oudh (Burkill). The roots are 

 also much used medicinally. 



5. CRINUM, Linn. ; Fl. Brit. Ind. vi, 280. 



Herbs with large tunicate bulbs. Leaves long, ensiform or lorate. 

 Flowers large, umbellate, sessile or nearly so, with 2 spathe-like 

 bracts at the top of a long solid scape ; bracteoles linear. Perianth 

 funnel-shaped or almost salver-shaped ; tube long, straight or 

 incurved, cylindric or with a wide mouth ; lobes 6, recurved or 

 spreading or conniving. Stamens 6, adnate to the throat of peri- 

 anth-tube ; filaments free. Ovary 3-celled ; ovules 2 many in 

 each cell ; style filiform ; stigma small. Fruit a subglobose 

 membranous or coriaceous capsule, bursting irregularly. Seeds 

 few, large, testa thick ; albumen copious. Species about 75, in 

 Trop. Asia, Africa, Australia, and America, mostly on sea- 

 coasts, and in India often found wild in rocky beds of rivers. 

 Perianth-tube straight, erect; lobes stellately 

 patent ; stamens spreading : 

 Leaves 5 in. wide or wider ; umbels 15-50 

 fid. ; per-tube 3-4 in. long, equalling the 

 linear lobes ; neck of the very large bulb 

 4 in. or more across . . . 1. C. ASIATICTJM, 



