XYRIDACE^l. 



Nat. syst. ed. 2. p. 388. 



XYRIS. 



Head composed of roundish, imbricated, very compact, 

 1 -flowered scales. Sepals 3. Petals 3, much larger, perishable, 

 equal, waved. Hypogynous scales 3, bifid. Capsule 1 -celled, 

 3-valved. Seeds numerous on parietal receptacles. 



1311. X. indica Linn. sp. pi 62. Vahl. symb. ii. 7. Willd. 

 i. 254. Roxb. fl. ind. i. 179. (Rheede ix. t. 71.) Low 

 clayey soils in Bengal and Coromandel. 



Root fibrous, annual. Leaves radical, bifarious, straight, sword- 

 shaped, on 1 edge slit into a sheath for the scape, pointed, smooth ; 

 from 6 to 12 inches long. Scape naked, round, striated, erect, length 

 of the leaves, each supporting a round, flower-bearing head. Flowers 

 a beautiful bright-yellow. Bracts or scales 1 -flowered, orbicular, 

 concave, hard, smooth. Calyx 3-leaved, hid within the scale, mem- 

 branous. Petals 3, each supported on an unguis just long enough to 

 raise their expanding oval crenate borders above the scales. Barren 

 filaments inserted alternately with the petals round the base of the 

 ovary ; apex 2-cleft, each division ending in a pencil of fine yellow 

 hairs adhering firmly at the cleft to the edges of the petals, near the 

 apex of the claws. Filaments 3, short, broad, erect, inserted on the 

 inside of the apex of the claws of the petals. Anthers twin, erect, 

 united by a continuation of the filament. Ovary superior, 3-sided. 

 Style length of the claws of the petals, from thence 3-cleft. Stigma 

 torn. Capsule 3-valved, 1-celled. Seeds numerous, attached to a keel 

 down the inside of each valve. Roxb. The natives of Bengal con- 

 sider this of great value, because they think it an easy, speedy, and 

 certain cure for the ringworm. Rheede says the leaves are used for 

 this purpose mixed with vinegar ; and the leaves and roots boiled in oil 

 are taken against leprosy. 



615 



R R 4? 



