183 



N. Ord. GENTIANACE^I. 

 Tribe Swertiece. 



Genus Ophelia,* Don. DC. Prod., ix, pp. 123-7. Species 18 

 or 20, Datives of India, and a few in China and Australia. 





183. Ophelia Chirata,f Grisebach, Gen. $ Spec. Gent., p. 320 



(1839). 



Chiretta. Chirayta. 



Syn. Gentiana Chirayita, Roxb. G. floribunda, Don. Ophelia lurida, 

 Don. Agathotes Chirayta, Don. 



Figures. Wallich, Plant. Asiat. Bar., iii, t. 252. 



Description. A large annual (?) herb, reaching 5 feet in height, 

 with a thick, tapering, scarcely branched root. Stem erect, 

 branched in the upper part, stiff, smooth, cylindrical below, bluntly 

 quadrangular above, slightly thickened at the nodes, with a very 

 large pith, often hollow in the lower part. Leaves ovate or ovate- 

 lanceolate, opposite, sessile, smooth, rounded, and semi-amplexi- 

 caul at the base, acuminate at the apex, the largest 4 inches long, 

 very much smaller on the branches, with 5 or 7 parallel curved 

 nerves prominent below. Inflorescence consisting of numerous 

 small axillary, opposite, lax cymes (often reduced to a single 

 flower) arranged on the short branches and the termination of the 

 stem, the whole forming an elongated tapering panicle 2 feet in 

 length ; flowers small, stalked. Calyx deeply divided into 4 linear 

 acute segments, smooth. Corolla nearly twice as long as the 

 calyx, divided nearly to the base into 4 ovate-lanceolate, strongly 

 acuminate, erect segments, each provided on the upper surface 

 with a pair of " nectaries " covered by pouch-like, oblong scales 

 which terminate in long fringes, persistent. Stamens 4, shorter 

 than the corolla, and inserted at its base, filaments tapering. 

 Pistil of two carpels, ovary compressed, one- celled, tapering into 



* Name from 6<t>t\\eiv, to bless, from its valuable properties, 

 f The Kiratas are " an outcast race of mountaineers in the north of India," 

 among whom this plant was used. 



