OMMELINA.] COMMELINACEM. 273 



late or ovate-lanceolate, acute or acuminate ; sheaths loose, glabrous, 

 usually with ciliate margins. Peduncles J-f in. long, spreading or 

 erect. Spathes or 1 J long ; base rounded or cordate, with rounded 

 lobes. Cymes usually two, 1-3 fld. Flowers |-| in. across, the two 

 interior petals obovate with long claws, dark blue ; the exterior 

 one subsessile, orbicular, pale blue or white, sometimes obsolete. 

 Ovary 3-celled, of which two cells are 2-ovuled and the third 1-ovuled, 

 Capsule J in. long, broadly oblong, acuminate, coriaceous, 5-seeded. 

 Seeds oblong-cylindric, brown, tubercled and reticulate. 

 Abundant within the area. DISTBIB.: Throughout the hotter parts 

 of India from the Punjab to Ceylon, extending to China, S. Africa 

 and other tropical and subtropical countries. 



2. C. salicifolia, Eoxb.; Fl. Ind. i, 172 ; Clarke in DC. Mon. 

 Hi, 167 ; F. B. I. vi, 370 ; Watt E.D.; Prain Beng. PL 1082 ; Cooke 

 Fl. Bomb, ii, 781. 



Stems slender, glabrous, decumbent, sometimes rooting from the 

 nodes. Leaves 3-6 in. long, linear-lanceolate, glabrous or nearly 

 so ; sheaths | in. to 1 in., ciliolate. Spathes 1-2 in., axillary ovate- 

 lanceolate, acute or acuminate, rounded at base. Peduncles J-l in. 

 long, slender. Flowers polygamous ; branches of cyme equal, 

 usually 1-2-fld. Sepals free, ovate, obtuse, the two inner connate 

 below, larger than the outer. Petals dark blue, the two larger ovate 

 with undulate margins and long claws, the smaller one broadly ovate, 

 entire, subsessile or with a very short claw. Staminodes 3, clavate. 

 Capsule % in. long, quadrate, membranous. Seeds J in. long, black, 

 powdered with white, smooth, ovoid or subglobose, with a whitish 

 membranous appendage at one end. 



Dehra Dun, on the Siwalik range ; Sub -Himalayan tracts of N. 

 Oudh ; Merwara in Rajputana ; Bundelkand. DISTRIB. : Eastwards 

 to Assam, Burma and Bengal and southwards to the Konkan and 

 S. India, extending to Java. 



3. C. Hasskarlli, Clarke Comm. and Cyrt. Beng. 13, t. 3 ; in 

 DC. Mon. Hi, 157 ; F. B. I. vi, 370 ; Prain. Beng. PI. 1082 ; Cooke 

 FL Bomb, ii, 781. 



Stem much branched, glabrous or pubescent, sometimes seaberulous. 

 Leaves 1-3 in. long, narrowly lanceolate, subacute ; sheaths J in. 

 long, with a broad base, ciliate. Spathes J in. long, axillary, ovate- 

 lanceolate, cordate at the base and with rounded lobes, glabrous 

 scabrid or hispid ; peduncles J-l in. long. Flowers in pubescent 

 unequal cymes, the uppermost branch 2-4-fld., the lower 1-2-fld. 

 Capsule J in. long, quadrate, apiculate, membranous. Seeds J-J in. 



