YANOTIS.] COMMELINACEJE. 279 



in the warmer regions of the Old World, from Africa and through 

 India to S. China and N. Australia. 



Flowers in cymes, enclosed in 2 -seriate falcate 

 imbricating bracteoles : 



Boots fibrous ; stem and branches slender ; 

 leaves ovate-oblong, glabrous or with 

 spreading hairs . . . . .1.0. cristata. 



Roots tuberous ; stem and branches stout ; 

 radical leaves ensiforrn ; cauline lanceo- 

 late, hirsute . . . . . . 2. 0. tuberosa, VAB. 



adscendens. 



Flowers axillary, enclosed in the sheaths of the 

 leaves ; bracteoles small, slender, not im- 

 bricating . . . . . . 3. C. axillaris. 



1. C. cristata, Schult, f. Syst. vii, 1150 ; Clarice, in DC. Mon. 

 tft, 247 ; F. B. I. vi, 385 ; Collett FL Siml. 534 ; Pram Seng. PL 

 1085 ; Cooke FL Bomb, ii, 794. Tradescantia imbricata, Roxb. 

 FL 2nd. ii, 120. 



A slender branching herb with fibrous roots. Stem branched from the 

 base ; branches 6-18 in. long, creeping and rooting below, glabrous 

 or with spreading hairs. Lmves sessile, ovate-oblong, flat, glabrous 

 or sparsely hairy, the margins softly ciliate, base rounded or cordate ; 

 sheaths short, hairy. Flowers in scorpioid recurved cymes which 

 are longer than the bracteoles ; peduncles j4 in. long ; bracts 

 leaflike, f-lj in. long, ovate, cordate, acuminate, ciliate ; bracteoles 

 \ in. long, glabrous or ciliate with long hairs. Sepals lanceolate, 

 acuminate. Filaments bearded above. Style naked. Capsule -yVi 

 in. oblong, 3-gonous, truncate, nearly glabrous. Seeds $ in. long, 

 striate and with 2 large pits on two of the faces, black. 



Bundelkhand (Edge worth under C. imbricata). DISTBIB. : Throughout 

 Trop. India, in hilly districts, and up to 4,000 ft. on the W. Himalaya ; 

 also in Burma, Ceylon, and Malay Islands, extending to Trop. Africa. 



2. C. tnbeross, Schult. f. Syst. vii, 1153, VAB. adscendens, 

 Clarke in DC. Mon. in, 249 ; F. B. /., 386 ; Watt E. D.; Prain 

 Beng. PL 1085 ; Cooke FL Bomb, ii, 793. Tradescantia tuberosa, 

 Eoxb. FL 2nd. ii, 119. 



A creeping herb, with proliferous rooting nodes. Root of fusiform 

 tubers. Stem up to 3 ft. long, swollen and hairy at the base. Leaves 

 sessile, the radical and lower cauline 6-10 in. long, linear or ensiform 



