276 COMMELINACEM. [ ANEILEMA. 



Panicles terminating leafy stems ; 

 root fibrous ; stem slender ; leaves 

 sessile, small, oblong, auricled ; pani- 

 cle small, leafy below . . . 2. A. spiratum. 



Cells of ovary with 2 ovules, of capsule 

 usually 2-seeded ; panicles subterminal 

 rarely axillary ; leaves linear or 

 lanceolate . . . . . 3. A. nudiflorum. 



Seeds 2-seriate (16 or more in each cell) ; 



pedicels axillary or terminal ; stem stout, 



sparingly branched, creeping and rooting 



at the nodes, leafy ; leaves linear-oblong . 4. A. Hamilton- 



ianum. 



Cells of ovary 1-ovuled, those of capsule 1- 

 seeded ; pedicels 1-3 in the axils of distant 

 lanceolate bracts ; stem slender, decumbent 

 and rooting at the lower nodes ; leaves long, 

 linear ; roots fibrous . . * 5. A. vaginatum. 



1. A. acapiflorum, Wight Ic. t. 2075 ; F. B. I. vi 375 ; Clarke in 

 DC. Mon. iii, 207 ; Watt E. D.; Prain Beng. PI 1084 ; Cooke Fl. 

 Bomb, ii, 786. Commelina scapiflora, Roxb. Fl. Ind. i, 175. Mur- 

 dannia tuberosa Royle III. 403, t. 95. Vern. Siyah musli (Hind.). 

 .A tufted herb, with elongate fusiform tubers. Leaves all radical, erect, 



4-8 in. long, narrowly ensiform, finely acuminate and slightly narro wed 

 to the base. Flowers in erect elongate panicles on terminal leafless 

 scapes ; scape with panicle 8-18 in. long ; sheaths on scape below 

 the panicle f-2J in. embracing the scape, finely acuminate with 

 an oblique mouth ; upper bracts amplexicaul, -often spotted. Sepals 

 J in. long, elliptic -oblong, subacute, purple-green. Petals blue, f 

 in. long, obovate. Stamens 3, perfect, all bearded with blue hairs. 

 Capsule J in. long, obovoid. Seeds 5 or 6 in each cell, superposed, 

 sharply 3-gonous. 



Siwalik range, on the Mohand Pass and in Sub-Himalayan tracts from 

 Rohilkhand to Gorakhpur (Duthie). DISTBIB. : Temp, and Trop. 

 Himalaya from the Ganges eastwards to Bhutan ; also in Bengal 

 and southwards to Travancore and Ceylon, extending to Burma 

 and China. 



2. A. spiratum, R. Br. Prod. 271 ; Clarice in DC. Mon. 207 ; 

 F. B. I. vi, 377 ; Pram Beng. PL 1084 ; Cooke Fl. Bomb, ii, 787. 

 A nanum, Kunih.; Clarke Comm. and Cyrt. Beng. t. 18. Commelina 

 nana, Roxb. Fl Ind. i, 173. C. pumila Herb Royle. 



